Othila
by JeniOctavia Ramsey
Summary: The Gorillaz take some time off in the states. Portland, Or to be exact. When a train ride goes terribly wrong, they have to keep thier wits about them to survive. Ch. 10 is up!
1. Chapter One

_Othila_

A Gorillaz fanfic by JeniOctavia

With help from Krissie and Joseph

_**From "The Book of Runes" by Ralph H. Blum:**_

**_"_Othila** **_Separation. Retreat. Inheritance. This is a time of separating paths. Old skins must be shed, outmoded relationships discarded. When you receive this rune, a peeling away is called for. Part of the Cycle of Initiation, _Othila _is a rune of radical severance..."_**

Chapter One

"Rubbish," Murdoc Nicalls muttered in disgust as he watched the masses of people walk, drive, and bus down the busy downtown Portland street, "Absolute fucking rubbish," he decided to add a second later, glancing over his shoulder to the window of the small McDonalds at his back, more specifically the three individuals that were currently at the counter inside. 2D, Russel Hobbs, and Noodle, the three remaining members of the world famous band Gorillaz, were currently ordering a fast food dinner after a long day of browsing around Downtown and South East Portland's various shops and malls. Murdoc himself had been dragged out at the pleading request of Noodle who wouldn't relent until her 'whole family' was on the trip with her, "I still cannot believe I got dragged out to this cesspool of a town..." growled at the thought as he pulled out a cigarette from the front breast pocket of his jacket and proceeded to light the end, taking a very long, satisfying drag from the filter. He huffed an equally lengthy sigh, the acrid smoke curling out from between his lips and over his face as it rose in to the air. Just then Noodle, the young Asian female guitarist of the group, poked her head out from the swinging door and looked up at Murdoc with baleful green eyes.

"Murdoc-sama..."

Giving a grunt, Murdoc rolled his eyes over to the diminutive form that stood in the door way just as 2D, the blue haired, vacant eyed singer joined Noodle at the door.

"Eh. Yes, luv?" Murdoc grumbled, knowing what she was going to ask.

"Please come inside and have dinner," Noodle asked softly, clearly trying to make the words sound as if she were whining, despite the fact that she felt like doing just that. Murdock's perpetually growing bad mood had been a source of disappointment for her all day, and she'd only wanted to enjoy time with her family without the eldest member of the group pitching a smarmy fit about every place they went. To this Murdoc only grumbled and took another drag off his cigarette, casting his odd eyed gaze back to the busy street in front of them. Somewhere in the far, far distance a sound like thunder rumbled, but it could have just been a semi truck on the free way. With all the noise of cars and pedestrians it was hard to tell.

"Muds, please. We got you yer fave," 2D chimed in with Noodle nodding enthusiastically in agreement, her short violet-black pigtails bouncing atop her head. This actually warranted attention, causing Murdoc to glance over with minimal but showing interest, one eyebrow raised on his face.

"Extra onions?"

"Lots of onions!" Noodle cheered excitedly in her thick Japanese accent as she threw her baggy sleeve covered hands in to the air. Murdoc stared at the glowing nub of the cigarette for a second, let out a dry, humored laugh and brushed the cherry off on the side of the brick building, stuffing the bent stick back in his jacket pocket.

"You owe me, shorty," the older man said with a light smirk, patting Noodle on the head as he entered the building. He spotted the final band member, their large bodied, dark skinned drummer Russel, taking up a good portion of a booth at a table laden with trays and packaged food. Noodle went skipping by, humming happily to herself as she jumped up on the seat next to Russel, scooting in next to him and wiggling her arms in the air to get her giant sleeves back far enough to eat. 2D also swept past Murdoc, slower than Noodle had done so, and took a seat across from the hyper active girl who'd instantly started digging in to her food. Murdoc took a seat next to the blue haired singer, glancing at him as a scowl replaced the sarcastic smirk he'd had earlier. 2D was giving a rather cheeky grin at the situation, causing Murdoc to instantly foul his mood.

"What're you so damn happy about, face ache?" he snapped, snatching a burger off the pile of food and unwrapping it as he stared at the younger man.

"Wut? I can' be happy once in a while, Muds?" 2D responded, grabbing a container of fries and popping a few in to his mouth.

"Eh. No," Murdoc quipped, biting in to his own burger.

"Lighten up, Murdoc," Russel interjected as 2D's smile slipped in to a definitive pout, "We're trying to have fun, man. You've just been draggin' us down all day."

"Seriously! Noodle just wanted us to have a good time, an all you've been doin' is bitchin' and moanin' an carryin' on like a right whiner all day," 2D added in, causing Murdoc to throw his head back in a clearly over dramatic moan of annoyance.

"Oh come o-would you two just bugger off an' leave me be!" he groaned rather loudly, "Did you expect me to be all Mister Sunshine and Bubbles today? You _knew_ I didn't want to leave, yet you let Noods plead and beg with me until I caved! Please, for the love of Satan, just be happy I'm _here,_"

"Alright, fine," Russel relented, picking up a fry and pointing it at Murdoc in a mock threat, "but don't be an ass about it, man. No more complaining for the rest of the night,"

Raising his head back up, Murdoc stared at his food for a second, Russel for another, and Noodle for one additional second before he, too caved in and nodded.

"Right, right, no bitchin', no complainin'. I am Mister Bubbles, at your bleedin' service," he drooled sarcastically, waving a hand across the table in a fake bow.

"Now that's more like it,"

---

"Where'd we park?" 2D asked, rubbing a hand through his perpetually mussed blue hair as the quartet made their way in to the large, multi story parking garage that was just down the street from the McDonalds where they'd gone for dinner. Outside heavy clouds thick with possible rain started to roll in while the golden sun began to set behind the mass of skyscrapers and old buildings, giving the city a strange ethereal glow of smoky orange mixed with constantly shifting shadows. The lighting change and the fact that so many different cars had come and gone in the time that the group had been wandering around Portland that the entire level looked completely unfamiliar to 2D, leaving him to wonder where exactly their rental vehicle was.

"Its here somewhere," Russel drawled, shoving his hands in his pockets and searching for the car keys as he came out from the stairwell that led up to that particular level. His fingers found a familiar flimsy metal and paper tag and tugged the set of keys out while he walked in the general direction of where he thought they'd parked. Murdoc followed, finishing off the cigarette he'd saved right before dinner, and Noodle brought up the rear, bouncing up the steps while humming some random song. She bounded past Murdoc, who only rolled his eyes at the hyperactive teen, and went over to Russel, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket and giving it a tug while pointing in the complete opposite direction of where he was walking.

"Russel-san, the car is over here. You're going the wrong way," she explained, smiling cutely at him when he turned around to look at where she was pointing.

"...huh," Russel grumbled, making a face as he stared at the dark red Jeep Grand Cherokee that the young girl was currently gesturing at. He gave a shrug, absently wondering how he'd managed to get so turned around, and went to unlock the doors, "A'ight, everyone in," he called out to the group after pulling himself in to the passenger seat.

"Muds," 2D said, approaching the older man as they headed over to the Jeep. When he received a non committal growl, 2D simply continued, "I was wonderin' if I could bum a fag offa ya. 'mout."

Murdoc cast a glare in 2D's direction, scowling as he puffed out the last bit of cigarette smoke and tossed the remaining filter on the ground.

"Why can't you get yer own, dullard?" he snapped as he pulled the car door open, sliding in to the front passenger seat. Noodle was already in the back, clicking her seatbelt on when 2D took up his own spot on the other side of her.

"I lost my ID," he explained sheepishly, looking down at his lap, "Can't buy 'em without, the stores won't let me. ...please?"

"Sweet Satan, how in the bloody hell did you manage to lose it?" Murdoc hissed angrily, turning around in his seat to narrow his odd colored eyes at the rather dimwitted vocalist.

"I don' know!" 2D defended, his voice rising in pitch as he gave a rather comical flail from the backseat, nearly thwacking Noodle in the head when he did. She gave a squeak of surprise and ducked 2D's left arm, muttering some protest or another in Japanese at him, "It jus' happened! I went for it yesterday and it was gone! ...please, Muds! Please please please! Just one! Pleeeeeeeeeeeasssseee!" he suddenly started begging, his tone shifting from whining to all out pathetic pleading, his hands folding in to a prayer position as he leaned forward and attempted to beseech Murdoc for a smoke.

"No!" Murdoc countered, reaching over to shove 2D's head down between his knees which in turn only caused him to fling his arms about more. Noodle let out a semi-surprised shriek, curling up against the door to get away from the two boys rough housing, "Yer fault you lost it, DEAL WIT IT!"

"Leave him alone, Murdoc-san!" Noodle said in a huffy tone, "It is not his fault he misplaced it!"

"Yeah!" Wut she said!" 2D cried out, his voice muffled from the position Murdoc had him pushed down in. Murdoc glanced between Noodle's sour expression and the hunched over form of the younger vocalist before grumbling something rather rude about the two of them that, thankfully, Noodle didn't quite hear, and let 2D go. The blue haired male sprung back up, his hair sticking out at random angles and his clothing a little rumpled.

"So 'ats a 'no'?"

"Duh, face ache," Murdoc grunted, sliding back down in to his own seat and folding his arms over his chest, "Why aren't we moving yet?"

During all the arguing, none of them had noticed that Russel was hunched over the steering wheel with a scowl pulling his lips tight across his dark features. His hand was on the ignition key and repeatedly turning, and amongst all the din of the little row, no one had heard the repeated 'click-click, click-click' that the car was giving in response to the large drummer trying to start it. He gave it a few more turns as Murdoc stared at him curiously before straightening back up and pointing to the hood.

"It ain't startin," he said as if that simple sentence explained the mystery of the universe.

"...why not?" Murdoc asked, raising one eyebrow at the man.

"Well, I don't know. I'm not a car psychic, Muds. I can't just ask the car to tell me telepathically what's wrong with it,"

"Can you _fix _it?"

Russel let out a heavy sigh and swung the driver door open, hopping out of the Jeep and lumbering over to the front. He dropped his large hand on top of the hood and called out for Murdoc to pop it for him, lifting the metal top once the older man had leaned across the two front seats and released the lever of the hood catch. Silence settled inside the Jeep, save for the occasional shuffling noises made by Noodle who seemed to be shifting rather restlessly in her seat.

Five minutes later Russel was still hunched over the engine his arms and bald head occasionally visible to the occupants of the Jeep as he moved and fiddled inside of its engine. Murdoc gave an impatient huff while 2D started to hum quietly to himself while he stared out the window at the grimy brick wall that was positioned next to where they'd happened to park. Some random punks had gone to the trouble of writing various bits of graffiti on the rough, chipped-paint surface and 2D was killing time by trying to decipher what had been scrawled there.

Ten more minutes passed, and Noodle had started to doze off in the back seat, her head resting against the seatbelt strap and her mouth hanging open slightly. 2D had grown bored with the graffiti and had pulled out his silver mobile phone, playing a video game of some sort on it as his tongue was sticking out between his teeth and his eyes were narrowed at the small screen in concentration. Murdoc had moved to driver's seat and was attempting to start the car on Russel's instruction, but as before they only received a weak clicking noise rather than the roar of a healthy, working engine. Russel finally straightened up and scrubbed a hand over his bald head in frustration and confusion, moving to the side of the Jeep to stare dumbfounded at its exterior. Murdoc frowned, snatched the car keys out of the ignition, and slipped out from the open door, walking over to where his band mate stood.

"Wut, wut? Wut's wrong with it, Russ?" he demanded, his voice doing nothing to hide the irritation he was clearly feeling.

"I don't know,"

"Wut do you mean, you don' know?"

Russel gestured to the hood with a finger, "There is nothing wrong with that engine, man. Not a damn thing."

"How can there be nothin' wrong!" Murdoc cried, throwing his hands in the air. His outcry caused Noodle to jerk awake, a muttered mix of Japanese and English slipping past her lips in a slurred voice, "It won't start but there's nothing wrong wit it, that makes no bloody sense, Russ!"

"Look man!" Russel snapped back, turning the pointed finger from the car to Murdoc's face in threat, "Don't be yellin' at me, I didn't _make_ this happen! That engine is picture perfect, there is _nothing wrong_."

"There is too something wrong!"

"Enlighten me, if yer so damn smart then, crackahass!"

This caused Murdoc to begin sputtering incoherently, as he couldn't actually come back with a correct answer of any sort but wasn't about to give Russel the satisfaction of knowing that he was completely clueless. Russel folded his arms across his chest, a smug smirk coming across his face as he waited for Murdoc to finish stammering through some half assed explanation of what he thought was wrong with the car, which of course was a completely ill informed and fabricated lie.

Noodle sighed heavily as she stared out the window at the two of them, shaking her head as they continued to argue rather loudly, their voices echoing through the car park.

"He cannot go five minutes without throwing a fit," she said softly, though she received no reply as 2D was still too wrapped up in whatever game he was playing on his mobile to notice that she had spoken. Another huff escaped her lips, lifting some of the heavy purple bangs that covered her emerald eyes.

Her eyes still trained on the two forms outside, it wasn't until her line of sight was directly on them that her heart gave a thump, sank down to her feet, and made her realize that the strange sensation of moving wasn't being made in her mind. The Jeep was moving down the exit ramp on its own volition without motor power to assist it.

"2D-san..."

"Yea, Noods?" 2D said distractedly, barely noticing that Noodle's voice had taken on a slightly panicked note.

"2D-san, the Jeep is moving," Noodle explained in the calmest tone that she muster, even as parked cars started to go by rather swiftly, the Jeep picking up speed on the slight incline of the exit. Three seconds later what Noodle had said finally registered in 2D's often slow paced mind and his head jerked up, the mobile phone fell from his bony fingers, his dark eyes growing huge in his head. The car was now moving swiftly down the exit ramp and the brick attendant booth that stood at the end, right before the open air archway that led in to the car park itself. Noodle let out a shrill scream that resounded through the stone building, finally getting Murdoc and Russel's attention mid-argument.

"FUCK!" they yelled in unison, taking off down the ramp after the car.

"Noodle, cover yer head!" 2D screeched, fumbling with his undone seatbelt, his shaking hands unable to get a good enough grasp on it. Noodle dropped her head down and threw her arms over it, curling her body in to a tight ball as her lips moved in some silent prayer. The Jeep, rolling at about six or seven miles per hour at that point and grinding against the wall, impacted with the attendant booth just as 2D was able to snap the safety harness in to the clip and throw his own arms over his head just as the front end crumpled with a sickening crunch and squeal of metal on brick that resounded through the car park. He grunted as his body was thrown forward, stopped only by the seatbelt that dug painfully in to his chest, which in turn caused him to be snapped back by the momentum.

The last thing he remembered for several minutes was his head connecting with the side passenger window before his vision completely blacked out. When his mind returned to consciousness, Murdoc was yelling something rather incoherently outside of the Jeep, and he could barely make out Russel's voice asking Noodle if she was alright.

He felt a small hand grasp his shoulder a second later, and slowly his vision began to come back in to some semblance of focus, though. A grunt escaped his lips as Noodle rather ungracefully leapt on to his lap and began fighting with his stubborn seat belt. There was a click and it released, taking a lot of pressure off his throbbing chest and allowing him to breathe normally. A groan slipped past his lips just as Noodle grabbed his face and began shaking his head back and forth.

"2D-san! 2D-san wake up!"

"Noods..." 2D said in a slurred, mashed voice, "Yer hurtin' ma hea' more den it a'ready is,"

"Gah! _Gomen_!" Noodle cried out, quickly removing her hands from his face, "Are you okay?"

2D gave this a long moment of thought, groaning loudly from the thudding pain in both his chest and his head, before finally answering, "...no. Bu' I'll live. Now ge' off, please?"

Noodle nodded and scuttled off, crawling over the seats until she slipped out of the open passenger door where Russel was standing. The larger man watched her then held a hand out for 2D, beckoning him out of the ruined vehicle. Groaning at the sheer amount of ache that was lancing through his body, 2D some how managed to drag himself out to the door, leaning on Russel for support as he stumbled out of the Jeep, only to be painfully snatched up by the collar of his jacket not a second later by a very irate Murdoc.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" the older man was bellowing in his face, shaking him and causing him to cry out at the sensation of his aching head bobbling about.

"NOTHIN'!" 2D yelled back, wincing and trying to back away, "It moved on its own!"

"BULLOCKS!" Murdoc continued to holler in red-faced anger, gripping the jacket tighter and pulling the collar around 2D's throat, causing him to cough and sputter. Just then Noodle stormed over and shin kicked Murdoc roughly, shrieking at him in high-pitched, rapid Japanese as his grip was released on the younger man. Grunting and gasping, 2D fell against the side of the Jeep, rubbing at his throat as he glared daggers at Murdoc, who was, much to his annoyance, getting lectured by both Russel and Noodle, in English and Japanese respectively. His arms flailing over his head as he yelled back at both of them in barely understandable Cockney, clearly irritated that he was getting reamed so badly for something he did on a daily basis anyway.

Rubbing his sore head, fingers running over a bump beneath his mussed blue hair with a grimace, 2D left them to bicker with one another, not surprised in the least that the third major argument of the day had broken out within minutes of the previous one. It gave him time to inspect the damage done to the Jeep and, some how through all the shrieking and yelling behind him try to figure out what exactly happened. He and Noodle were just sitting there when the Jeep started moving, and though Murdoc wanted vehemently to blame it on him, 2D had touched nothing that would cause the car to move completely on its own. The only thing that he could even remotely conclude was that Russel had accidentally tampered with something while trying to find the source of the car's starting problem.

_Bu' he's been fixing cars since before he even joined us...he wouldn' mess wit' the breaks unless he needed to, _his mind reasoned, causing him to frown. Dullard that he was, the concept of a car doing something completely on its own with no one behind the controls or doing something that would will it to move the way the Jeep did was just ridiculous, _Cars just don't do that, _his mind said once more.

However the crunched front of the rental Jeep was speaking multitudes about the fact that the car HAD moved on its own, with no outside source causing it to do so. Glass littered the ground; three windows were busted completely open along with the front end lights, coloring the ground in amber and clear shaded shards. Dark red paint had left disturbing streaks across the grimy white brick wall where the Jeep had lost control and skidded against it for nearly ten feet. The point of impact, the attendant booth, had survived rather well despite its rather old looking appearance, and the Jeep itself had only taken one large chunk out of the back end of it, adding bits of white painted brick to the rubble on the ground.

It was his inspection of the back of the attendant booth that made 2D realize that some one could have still been injured despite the low impact of the crash. Frowning, he moved around to the front, exiting through the large archway of the car park. The second his foot landed on the side walk, though, he came to an abrupt halt, his heart falling from his chest to his knees in one sickening motion. His mouth worked, but it took a few seconds for his voice to return.

"Oi!" he called out, looking over his shoulder, attempting to get his band mates' attention, only to find that some how they were still arguing, all of them yelling so loud and fast that only ever other word was understandable from any of them.

"'EY! LARRY, CURLY, MOE! BAD THINGS HAPPENING!" he suddenly found himself yelling, voice high pitched more in nerves than irritation, catching them all in mid sentence. They stopped, staring at the blue haired singer in confusion, Noodle with her head tilted to the side, Murdoc with his arms still above his head, and Russel with his finger in Murdoc's face.

"What are you talking about, 2D-san?" Noodle asked, walking over to where he stood, "the only bad thing was-…aiee…_kuso_…" she found herself muttering softly, her voice dropping to just below a whisper. This was enough to pique Murdoc and Russel's interest, the two of them exchanging glances before wandering over to where Noodle and 2D stood.

"Guys, wazzis here 'afore?" 2D asked in a slightly shaking voice, wrapping his arms around himself as he looked to Russel who came up on his right.

"…what have you crackah asses gone and done now?" was Russel's slightly awed response, his jaw hanging open at what they all were staring at.

"We didn' do nofin…" 2D muttered as Noodle nodded in numb agreement, scooting closer towards 2D's legs, her fingers grasping at the bottom of his jacket.

Murdoc ran a hand through the back of his hair, one eyebrow raised. Though clearly confused by what they were all witnessing, he didn't seem to share the sense of fear at what had the other three so clearly entranced. Shock was probably the best description of what he felt right then.

What had once been a busy, bustling city street in the middle of the evening was completely and utterly deserted in such a way that couldn't possibly be normal. Cars had literally stopped dead in the street with no indication that the passengers and driver had ever gotten out. A few cell phones were lying on the street, as if their owners had simply laid them down on the ground and walked away. Over the pavement a thin, still layer of fog had rolled in from seemingly nowhere, covering everything in a hazy, dreamlike sensation, only added by the fact that the glow of the sunset had vanished but a brightness about the evening had remained. On top of it all, a disturbing silence, so thick and almost alive in the air, had completely taken over, seeming to suck the very ability of sound out of the town.

"Oi, maybe…maybe there's a sale?" Murdoc suggested, sounding much weaker than he'd intended. Noodle slowly shook her head and turned her now large, terrified eyes on her older band leader.

"No," she answered, her own voice high and trembling.

"Well sue me for bein' supportive..."

Reluctantly moving his arms from the protective stance he'd put himself in, 2D took a couple of steps forward and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE!"

He only received a sudden harsh wind and the sound of his own voice echoing off the buildings in response.

-----

"Dance, dance! We're fallin' apart to half time!"

The sole occupant of a Metropolitan Area Express light rail ground train jerked awake with a grunt in her seat, her right arm twitching as her cell phone played its message ring tone and gave off a slight vibration in her hip pocket. Rubbing her eyes with one hand, the red haired female fumbled for the lip of her pocket before finally managing to wrap her fingers around the small cellular phone.

"Grrn, what do you want…?" she grumbled in a slurred tone, flipping the device open to see that she'd received a text message. After reading it and responding, she put the phone back in her pocket, taking a moment to stretch her arms over her head and yawn. After the squeaky show of sleepiness had left her open mouth, she pushed the pair of tortoiseshell colored glasses back up to the bridge of her nose.

It was then that the girl was finally able to take notice of the rather strange emptiness of the car she was currently riding in. All the seats that had been taken up when she'd boarded and fallen asleep in her seat were deserted, and she was the lone rider. An eyebrow raised in confused curiosity, she moved from her seat as the train exited the tunnel it had been zipping through. The train clicked along, pulling around a corner in to a vaguely residential area. Several apartment buildings stretched up in to the light gray evening sky with some lower business buildings speckled in between them. As the girl pressed her hands against the cold glass of the MAX window, she licked her lips nervously, a strange feeling coming over her.

Her heart thudded in her chest, her expression going from curious, to agitated and even more confused. One hand slipped away from the window and found the pentacle necklace that hung at her throat, grasping it tightly as her eyes scanned the streets.

"…where is everyone?"


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, head tilted back, his eyes cast up to the tall skyscrapers to the points where they vanished under the low hanging clouds, as if staring to the heavens silently would some how erase the past twenty minutes and bring everything back to normal. It was a silent, terrified prayer that seemed jumbled and pleading inside his head. All he wanted was to look back down and see the cars moving, the people walking, hear the chattering voices and the roar of engines. He knew, though, that it was wishful thinking. Whatever was going on, it clearly wasn't normal, nor was it a dream. The throbbing pain from the lump on his head told him that much.

"D!" a rumbling voice snapped the blue haired individual from his trance, causing his head to snap back down rather harshly and sending another jolt of pain from his injury down to the base of his neck. Wincing, 2D stared at Russel with a look of squint-eyed confusion. The larger man was about twenty or so feet away, down the road with a backpack over his shoulder that he'd rescued from the ruined Jeep. Some five feet behind and to the left of him, Murdoc and Noodle were rounding the corner to the cross street.

"Wut?" 2D muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking towards his band mate. Russel looked far more agitated than 2D had ever seen the normally calm, composed man, and that only served to make the situation rise up another degree on the 'bad shit happening' scale.

"We're leavin'. Gonna try to find out what's goin' on, maybe get some help. Or...sum'in..." he informed 2D while scratching the back of his head in a clearly nervous manner.

"Wut d'yeh fink is goin' on, 'nyway?" 2D asked aloud as the two started to follow Murdoc and Noodle down the street. Rounding the corner they found a scene that only added to the eeriness of the moment. Along a stretch of straight road bordered by buildings, bus shelters, and alternative art sculptures four or five large TriMet buses had stopped mid route, their large masses parked along the sidewalks or in the middle of the road, as if time itself had frozen them in place. None had any visible passengers or drivers. 2D likened them to sleeping dragons haven fallen in to a timeless slumber after a battle, though he couldn't figure out for the life of him why such a metaphor would come to mind.

"Man, how should I know?" Russel finally answered, having taken a moment of silence to stare at the strange scene of the halted public transportation vehicles, "All I know is that its wrong. I've never seen a big city lookin' like this,"

2D made a face but didn't respond as Russel had pretty much said exactly what was on his mind. There seemed no logical explanation for what they were witnessing, and even if there was one, the whole thing seemed so horridly wrong, just as Russel had said. It left a perpetually knotted, sinking feeling in 2D's gut and only added to the pounding in his head.

As they neared a large plaza that lay in what was essentially the center of the downtown area,

Murdoc pulled out his cell phone and searched for the number for the hotel that they'd been staying at on his list of received calls. Noodle heard the abnormally loud beeping from the buttons being pressed and glanced up at the older man who was giving a rather sour scowl to the phone while he walked.

"Murdoc-san, what are you doing?"

"Callin' the hotel, luv. Tryin' to get a bloody Scooby on wut's going on here," he responded gruffly, finally locating the number and hitting the 'send' button, putting the device up to his ear. What he received, rather than the comforting sound of ringing, was silence only rivaled by the dead air around them. Pausing, he pulled the phone away only to see that the screen still showed the calling icon complete with moving arrow and timer showing that the call was in progress. Thinking that his phone was in error, he hit 'cancel' and tried again.

Russel and 2D joined him and Noodle, and all three of his band mates watched with curious expressions. The calling icon returned and he put the phone back to his ear. Russel went to speak just then, but Murdoc lifted a hand to stop him. At first there was still silence, just as the previous attempt had, but after about ten seconds of nothing, a soft, erratic clicking could be heard.

Murdoc's eyebrow raised up a this, his lips moving silently though no sound coming from him. Adding to the clicks, a bizarre, abnormal static began to fade in and out as if the phone were moving up and down in an area of sporattic reception. The final noise was something like a broken turbine engine; a high-pitched whining that started muffled at first, but suddenly became loud and squealing. So quick was the sudden rise in noise that Murdoc actually cried out and dropped the phone from his hand, staring in wide-eyed disbelief. There was a soft click, and the screen indicated that the call had ended, putting the call timer at fifteen seconds.

"Muds?" Russel asked after a moment of tense silence.

"Broken," he muttered, barely coherent as he bent down and snatched the phone off the cement, checking it over for damage, "Noodle, let me use yers," he added, holding one hand out while the other slipped his own phone back in his pocket. Noodle made a face but reluctantly handed her own Pink RAZR to him. He took the object and opened it, notably ignoring the fact that the case was bright screaming pink and that she'd hooked about ten little clinking charms to the top of it. He searched through her own call log and choose the main phone line in to Kong Studios, their home and recording studio back in Essex, London. Holding the phone further away from his ear, he received the same exact distortion and noise, right down to the high pitched whine at the end. Giving a grunt, he shook his head and handed the phone back to the younger girl. She took it out of his hand and stared at the bright pink surface, wondering what could possibly be making their phones behave so strangely.

Just then a far away noise reached their ears, causing all four to look up from the corner that they'd stopped on. Inlaid tracks lined the cross street they were near, bordering what was apparently a small station of some kind. A tall rectangular kiosk of some kind declared in white letters upon maroon paint "Pioneer Square North", and up the road a bright light was cutting through the dimness of the evening, still far away but able to be heard in the absolute silence of the city.

"A train," Noodle said, sounding rather numb, her mobile still clutched tightly in her fingers like some sort of psychological anchor to her sanity that seemed to be wavering. 2D winced visibly at this and found himself putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly to get her attention. She jerked her head around to stare at him, her eyes wide beneath her mass of bangs, fear clearly written on her pale features. 2D offered her a smile and released her shoulder, moving towards the brick built platform that stood flush with the many tiered stair structures that made up the huge plaza known as Pioneer Square.

"Where you goin', D?" Russel called after him. 2D paused long enough to look over his shoulder and jab a thumb in the direction of the coming train.

"You got 'ny better ideas, Russ?" he asked, a tiny smirk coming on his lips.

Russel glanced at Murdoc, who simply shrugged as if he didn't care, then at Noodle, who was watching the singer walk away as if she was watching a dream fade in and out of consciousness. 2D also looked at the younger girl, his almost cheeky expression fading in to a frown. He returned to the corner and crouched down, taking Noodle's hand in his own large one and looking her straight in her emerald green eyes.

"Noods," he said softly, snapping her out of the trance she'd seemed to slip in to, "We're not gonna let 'nything happen to you. We'll find out wus goin' on, 'nd everyfing will be okay," when he received only a fearful stare in reasons, he gave her hand a squeeze much the way he'd done to her shoulder earlier, "Noodle," he urged, "we promise," he said, looking up to the other two. Russel some how found the ability to force a small smile of his own out and give a reassuring nod. Murdoc made a face as if he were about to be sick but finally nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah, yeah, wut he said," he muttered, waving a hand and crossing his arms over his chest. The train had stopped somewhere above them for a brief moment and was just then starting to move once more. 2D looked back down at Noodle, hopeful that she would respond in some way. Though tougher than most girls her age and normally unphased by even the oddest of things, she'd been known to completely shut down from time to time if something particularly crazy and hard to grasp arose, which was not something the boys needed right then.

She nodded, muttering a soft "I trust you," and 2D felt a tiny bit of relief flow over him. His grin returned and he pointed to his back, to which she nodded once more. Russel and Murdoc began moving to the station as 2D turned around, still crouched low, and let Noodle crawl up on his back. Rising and following the other two, she dropped her arms around his neck loosely and he held on to her knees. It was something they used to do all the time, Noodle piggybacking around on 2D's back when she was younger and the circumstances of growing up had changed so many things. At that moment, though, when fear was the emotion at the forefront for everyone, even Murdoc who would never, ever outwardly admit it, the simple act of such a childish thing brought comfort to Noodle and at least brought her to a calmer emotional level than before.

The troupe went across the street and trekked up to the top of the platform, near an area where several pieces of artwork had been made to look like the fallen, ruined pillars of a Grecian style structure.

The train whooshed by, the wheels making a rapid clacking noise along the sunken in tracks before it came to a slow, smooth stop, halting the second of two cars right before them. The train, marked as a "MAX: Metropolitan Area Express" on the side and painted with two large blue and goldenrod circles, sat only a few inches above the ground but rose nearly ten feet in height, with sets of black bars that connected to power lines stretched above. Sets of outward sliding double doors lined the sides, four pairs per car, and upon stopping they pushed open, revealing the interior. On the outside was what appeared to be some sort of destination sign, but it was strangely blank.

"You sure this is a good idea, man?" Russel asked uncertainly, noticing with a heavy heart just how empty that car was.

"Fer once I agree with face ache," Murdoc grumbled, running a knobby hand through his hair, "We don' have 'ny better ideas, an' stayin' here ain't lookin' too pretty either, mate,"

Agreement hanging on their tense silence, the three men and one carried Japanese girl entered the MAX just as the doors slid and clicked closed behind them, locking them inside the car.

Sets of mauve and silver chairs lined the walls in various directions, yellow bars and gray rubber hangers were stretched about, and near where they stood two bike hangers were positioned. Behind them a small set of stairs rose for another section of chairs, mirrored on the other side in the same manner.

"2D..." Noodle whispered, lifting her head up slightly to peer over 2D's mussed blue hair. All heads turned to look, and a strange, almost dreamlike moment seemed to make time stand still.

A girl with thick wavy gold-ish red hair stood at the other end of the car, a purple messenger back slung over one shoulder and a navy blue Dickies jacket that was clearly a few sizes too big slipping down the other. She, too, was staring at them, as if disbelieving of their presence and the fact that they'd boarded the MAX. Even from that distance they could all see how intense and bright her teal eyes were behind a set of tortoise shell frames, and the frown set on her rounded face indicated that they weren't the only ones aware of the weirdness at hand.

Ending the clearly odd scene was the sound and feel of the MAX beginning to move. It gave a jerk, which caused everyone to shift his or her weight in order to keep from falling, then continued to glide along the track. The girl blinked, seeming to come out of a trance, and made her way to the center facing seats, flopping down on a seat furthest away from them. She pulled her bag on to her lap and began digging around.

"Brian ache," Murdoc suddenly hissed in 2D's ear, causing him to twitch involuntarily, "Go talk to 'er,"

"Eeeh?" 2D muttered, looking over his shoulder, expecting to see a devious smirk on Murdoc's face. After all, it wasn't every day Murdoc actually told him to go talk to some random female. Instead he was suprised to find that the older man's face was completely stoic, "Wut, why?"

"Maybe she knows sum'in," he informed 2D. Face screwing up in confusion, 2D looked back at Noodle who gave a nod and slid off his shoulders, landing with a light _thunk_ as the train continued to roll along. Finding himself running a few teeth over his lower lip in a strange and sudden nervousness, 2D looked to his band mates. Russel gave him a 'shoo' motion with his large hand and turned up the stairs to the raised platform of stairs. Murdoc followed, and Noodle went to the doors, staring out the oblong windows that were set in them.

2D sighed, muttered a few explicative words under his breath and looked back to where the girl sat. Her bag still on her lap, she'd removed a slightly crumpled pack of ciggeretes from her bag and was holding them in front of her face with a rather confused expression.

_Grea'. Ge' the bloke tha' can barely speak t' talk. Dis makes sense how exactly? ...'least I have a chance of gettin' a damned fag tonight. Here goes nufing..._

Scrubbing a hand over his hair in frustration, 2D let out a strained sigh and walked down the isle, wavering a bit as the train rocked slightly under the momentum. Eventually he made his way to the seats and took one two down from the girl. She glanced up with a clearly surprised expression, blinked twice, and broke in to an unexpected beaming smile that 2D couldn't help but return.

"Er...'ello," he managed to fumble out, dropping the hand that was on the back of his neck to his lap and giving an awkward wave with the other one.

"Hi," the girl said, her voice heavy with uncertainty. She appeared friendly enough despite that, and 2D didn't blame her for being a little uneasy right then.

"Erm. I know dis sounds a bi' wierd, bu'...would it be t' much o'a bother if I asked you for a smoke?" 2D asked, stumbling over his words a few times before getting the whole sentence out. The girl blinked again, about five times rapidly before opening her mouth to say 'I don't smoke', which actually came out as, "I don't sm-...oh...these..." when she came to the realization that she still had the pack of cigarettes in her hand. Upon closer inspection 2D saw they were a pack of Camels.

"They're not mine," she explained after a moment of silence, causing 2D's hopes to instantly deflate. Her eyes moved away from the container and noticed the man's slumped shoulders and defeated expression, "...wow, some one's having a nicfit," she muttered with a smirk. 2D forced a smile and found himself rubbing the lump on the side of his head gently.

"Long day," was all he could think of to explain.

"Hm. I know that feeling. Well, its Tony's fault for leaving them in my bag. He shouldn't have expected me to baby-sit the damn things. Here," she said, handing the pack over to 2D, causing his dark eyes to go wide.

"R-really? Y'sure? I mean, der no' yours an'-"

"Hey, chill," the girl intrrupted, her smile getting a little bigger, "I'll buy him a new pack. It doesn't put that much of a dent in my bank account. Seriously, take 'em. I know how hard it gets,"

"Wow," 2D muttered, slowly taking the pack and lifting the top. Only two cigarettes

were missing from the whole pack, "Dat's really generous of you, 'specially t' give 'em to a complete stranger,"

"Well, you don't have to be. I'm Makara, but everyone calls me Kara for short," she said with a soft, slightly abashed giggle. A little bit of pink rose on her cheeks as she held her hand out. 2D took it and gave a light shake.

"Ever'one jus' calls me 2D. Pleasure t' meet you, Kara,"

"...'two-dee'? Like the number and letter?"

"Eeeerr..." 2D stammered, feeling his own cheeks gain a little blush as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Long story,"

"I'll bet!" Kara giggled, pushing a wayward piece of red hair back behind her ear. She shifted in her seat, putting her bag off to the side. 2D put a smile back on his face and shoved the pack in his pocket, stopping when he felt the bulk of his mobile against his fingers.

_I though' I lef' it in the Jeep..._

Mentally shrugging off the confusion, he watched the city scenery go by, the train still going along the tracks through downtown.

"'nyway, dat's Noodle over der by the window," 2D continued, gesturing to the small Asian with the pigtailed hair. Looking up, she gave a weak smile and a wave, her eyes all but invisible under the mass of purple-black bangs. Kara couldn't help but grin and wave in return, "An' dat's Russ, up der, and Murdoc, too, bu' we usually call 'im Muds,"

"Russ, Muds, Noodle and 2D? Now that's a combination if ever I've heard one!" Kara exclaimed, shaking her head with a quiet laugh. 2D actually managed a soft chuckle of his own, surprised that he could find humor at all in the crazy mess they were in. It was easy to tell just how strained everything was, though, when the silence returned not a second later.

"'nother odd question, Kara," 2D said after a while, his eyes watching the passing buildings rather than looking at her. Further away he could vaguely hear Murdoc making a comment about a digital sign that was near the area where the two of them were sitting. From what he could pick up, it was supposed to tell the next stop on the route, but was currently blank.

"Yeah?"

"There sumfink goin' on today?"

"Er. What do you mean?" 2D sighed, that horrible sinking feeling returning to his stomach and knotting his insides like some one grabbing two ends of him and pulling in opposite directions. Breathless, he quickly explained with erratic hand movements and a slightly agitated tone what had occurred in the car park, and what the band had found when they exited. When he finished, he chanced a look at her, expecting to see a disbelieving expression and to hear a nervous laugh. Instead she, too, was gazing out the window, her teal eyes distant and her lips pulled in to a tight line.

"I woke up about seven or eight stops up, just coming out of Beaverton, the next city over, and no one was on the train. I...didn't think anything of it until I looked out the window and saw the city deserted," slowly she turned her head, a stricken look upon her now pallid features, "This metropolis houses two million full time residents that live either in the Portland common or in the outlining cities. Portland is never this empty. Its physically impossible for it to be so,"

"So...sum'fink is wrong," 2D muttered, scratching at the side of his cheek absently. Kara nodded in quiet, worried agreement, the same lip-tugging frown on her features. A sigh escaped her lips a second later, and a tiny twitch brought her face back in to something close to a smile, as empty as it felt to her.

"At least we're not alone now. We'll find a way to where people are together, rather than stumbling around alone and uncertain, not to mention I'd probably go a little crazy if I was abandoned in a city this big completely alone."

This earned a good natured chuckle from 2D, "Worst way t' be, when yer town's gone ghost. Alone, tha' is,"

Kara opened her mouth to respond as the train started to pick up a little bit of speed, going beneath and large overpass that bordered something that looked like a small, slightly hidden square complete with a large fountain and archaic looking buildings. Not a second before she was to speak, the whole car gave a rather unnerving and shuttering jerk back and forth over the tracks, a loud clank coming from the car in front of them. Noodle let out a squeak but grabbed a near by bar to steady herself, Murdoc let out a string of curses after the motion caused him to knock his head on the window behind him rather roughly, and Russel simply raised an eyebrow and looked to the side. Kara, however, had been leaning forward with her arms resting on her knees, and the pull of the car in two different and sudden directions caused her to nearly be flung from her seat. Luckily 2D, who was still sitting back, was only jostled around a bit and was able to snatch her by the arm at the last second, stopping her from falling flat on her face.

"Geez! What was that?" she cried out, looking over her shoulder at 2D, her teal eyes wide with fear. Her heart was hammering something awful in her chest, and her stomach seemed to be doing flip-flops inside of her.

"I 'unno. It doesn' do dat often?" he asked, getting to his feet and helping Kara stand back up again. She straightened, shaking her head slowly.

"No, it's never done it that b-"

"_DAIKAIJU!_" Noodle suddenly shrieked, her voice high, thin, and full of terror. She stumbled back from the door she'd been standing at, pointing with a trembling finger at something in the sky, "_DAIKAIJU! DAIKAIJU!_"

Murdoc and Russel both sat up in thier seats as Kara and 2D turned to stare at the suddenly frightened girl.

"Wut's she yammerin' on about?" Murdoc grumbled rather gruffly, unable to see what it was she was pointing to from his angle.

2D stared in equal confusion at Noodle, who seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that she was shrieking in a language none of them had managed to become fluent in during her time with the band. Whatever it was, though, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was bad. Instinctively his hand tightened on Kara's arm, though she didn't react to it at all. Her eyes and attention were on Noodle as well.

"_DAIKAIJU!_" Noodle screamed one more time before stumbling away from the door, throwing her arms over her face as if preparing for some sort of impact.

"Wut's she scre-"

2D's sentence was abruptly cut short as something insanely large came slamming through the wall mere inches from his head, sending a shower of sparks and peices of broken plastic and various other materials showering down on him and Kara. Kara let out her own terrified scream and the two of them toppled to the floor roughly, the momentum of the sudden slam causing that section of the car to slam downwards and the back end to hurl upwards.

Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel all cried out as they were sent tumbling about like a set of super light rag dolls. Metal on pavement caused the entire car to fill with a horrid squealing noise, and whatever had slammed in to the back simply continued to tear through, taking out the entire front end as it some how continued moving along the tracks, leaving a gaping hole where the train should be. The back end dropped back down again, which created a few seconds of a seesaw affect, throwing everyone about as the two ends, one completely ruined and the other starting to accordion from the impacts, bounced up and down like a child's thrown toy.

2D yelled in pain, his entire back, head, and right shoulder throbbing in agony from the various bumps and knocks he'd taken in just the past few seconds. He was sure a few places were bleeding, but everything was happening so fast he couldn't be bothered to find out where or how bad. Some where near him Kara lay, but over the intense and loud noises the broken car was making he couldn't tell if she was conscious and screaming as much as he was or knocked out and venerable.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, what was left of the cables that connected the leading car to theirs twanged, pulled, and finally snapped, their length extended as far as they would go as the two pieces of the MAX got further and further away from one another. This in turn caused the car to spring forward, free of its restraints, and literally slingshot down the track at a rate far too fast for the damaged vehicle to take. Several fallen pieces of both MAX cars lined the path that they were taking, and for a short stint the screeching, sparking car was able to push these things out of its way as it slid along, the front, broken end dragging completely. This caused enough of a constant tilt that 2D saw Kara's unconscious form go sliding by him.

Yelling out her name in hopes of rousing her, he some how managed to snag the girl by the back of her shirt and latch on to a metal bar behind him, effectively keeping the both of them from a rather nasty end. His arms trembled, her weight quite a bit more than his skinny frame was used to supporting. He held on as tightly as he could manage, though, refusing to let either of them get sent flying out the open front end.

Somewhere amongst all the noise 2D could hear Noodle crying out in high pitched Japanese, and Murdoc was screaming something about Satan, though there was no way he could make out all the words. A single, quick glance back was all he chanced, and he could see Russel, Murdoc, and Noodle all hanging on to various poles and chairs for dear life.

A large piece of the train, what appeared to be a section of seating from the front lay, directly on the tracks. The front end rammed headlong in to it only to find that it some how had enough stopping power to not only halt the train but also send it reeling backwards, the back fishtailing on to the nearby sidewalk. A shadow descended upon the train once more, but this time, it was the looming screen of a building they were careening towards very, very quickly.

"HOLD ON EVERYONE!" Russel bellowed loudly above the din. Everyone except Kara held on to their holdings as tight combinations they could, 2D managing to hoist himself up with one arm and grab Kara around the waist with the other, his eyes squeezing shut as he uttered a very fast prayer to whatever deity above might grant them a chance to survive.

The last thing 2D remembered was the cab rolling on to its side with thunder-like crunch noises before he completely lost consciousness for the second time that day.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

_Thunk! Clang! Thunk! Clang!_

Murdoc let out a soft, raspy groan and lifted a hand to his forehead, his brow giving a few twitches at the strange, muffled noises that were forcing him in to consciousness. Thunking and clanging, one heavy object to another solid one, and soft, barely understandable muttering was reaching his ears, causing his irritation to rise just as his mind did through haze that was surrounding it. He thought 2D was at it again with some strange aquatic creature in the kitchen again, and it was very quickly causing Murdoc agitation. He just wanted to sleep, even though he'd been having the strangest dream about a train and something about the United States.

"Go'ammi'," Murdoc muttered softly, his words barely understandable in his semi coherent state, "Face ache, kno'i'off a'fore I kno'yer hea' off,"

He stretched a hand out to find his cluttered nightstand and a discarded pack of cigarettes, more than likely already half smoked, and only found a cold metal bar greeting his fingers. The banging continued in the background as his half-conscious brain suddenly realized that the 'bed' he was laying on didn't feel like his. Instead it felt like something much harder and more uncomfortable, with a slight glass texture to part of it, and even more disturbing was the fact that he actually felt like he was partially upright on this weird surface. There was also a nasty stinging sensation on his left arm that traveled the length of the back of his hand to just below his elbow.

_Did I pass ou' in a bar an' ge' thrown ou' again?_

"_Baka._ Open, open damn you. _Kuso! _..ow," a tiny, strained female voice switching in and out of English and some other language finally reached his ears, giving another inch to the pull of his mind in to some semblance of coherency.

Noodle? …bullocks. The train. That wasn't… 

With a loud enough groan to wake the dead, Murdoc slowly lifted his upper body in to a somewhat sitting position and blinked his bleary, tilting vision back in to clearness. His dream was no dream after all; he was really sitting odd-angled in a partially destroyed MAX cab that was tilted slightly on its side and completely thrashed on the inside. He was laying on one of the many large windows in the upper area of what was left of the train, and had been draped sideways over the back of seat next to him. Looking down, he located the source of the stinging, sharp pain; a long, though luckily not incredibly deep, jagged gash had been torn in to his arm. Attempting to flex the fingers of that hand only caused more discomfort to the injured extremity.

Sighing, he found himself muttering about the 'third worst day ever', and looked over to see what all the commotion was that had roused him in to consciousness. Somewhere beneath some seats close to him, Russel gave a rumbling mutter of his own as he, too, was being roused in to consciousness.

Noodle was a few feet down from Murdoc, looking terribly disheveled as she balanced herself on a single seat and held a small fire extinguisher and was attempting to dislodge the handle on the conductor's cab door. The handle had come loose, but not enough to disengage the lock on it. Amongst all the noise and the multi-lingual cursing from her, Murdoc could occasionally hear sniffling, indicating that the girl was more than likely crying. Making a face, more in confusion as to why she was attempting to do such a thing, the older man rose carefully from his strange position and managed to crawl across the window to where Noodle was, saying her name twice, though rather softly because he hadn't quite had his voice return yet. She never responded, too intent on getting the door open to hear him approach.

"Noodle!" Murdoc finally cried out, his voice dryer than usual but finally able to get some volume behind it. That coupled with his hand snagging her shoulder caused the girl to let out a rather shrill cry of terror and spin around, some how managing to stay on her precarious perch even as she raised the fire extinguisher above her head, ready to strike down whatever it was that was trying to grab her even though her tiny frame was visibly trembling. Her eyes, though still mostly hidden, were bloodshot red and puffy, tears making pinkish splotches as they went down her incredibly pale cheeks. One pigtail had come partially out of the bow that was holding it and was hanging down halfway on her head, and the oversized shirt she'd been wearing sported a few blotches a blood as well as a tear on the right side. Her right hand was bloody and a few small cuts laced the skin in various places around it, and a small rivulet of the crimson substance also snaked down from her thick hair.

"Murdoc-san…" she mumbled in surprise, lowering the extinguisher to chest level.

"'scuse the rudeness, luv, bu' wut in bloody fuck are you doin'?" Murdoc asked gruffly. Somewhere near him, more than likely a seat behind the two of them, Russel let out another noise and a soft curse of his own.

Noodle stared numbly at Murdoc for a good thirty seconds before turning around and going back to slamming the dented end of the extinguisher end to the weakening door handle.

"Noodle!" Murdoc snapped in a rather irritated tone. When she didn't respond again, stood where he was and snagged her arm, pulling her light body easily off the chair with only a small stumble. She gave a flail in surprise more than protest as she was tugged down to where Murdoc stood, her hand trying to not lose the grip on the device she was holding. He grabbed the young girl's shoulders, though carefully and gently so as not to aggravate any unseen injuries she might have gained in the crash.

"I'll ask again. Wut are you doin'?"

Rather than respond, Noodle lifted the extinguisher to her chest and clutched it tightly, her shoulders quaking beneath Murdoc's hands. Before he could even think to start an apology for scaring her or whatever had caused her to start shaking so badly, she dropped down on her knees and curled in to a ball, tiny, whimpering sounds emitting from her. Blinking, Murdoc knelt down and tried to put a comforting hand on the Asian girl's shoulder, but she only smacked his hand away roughly with a high-pitched grunt.

"Wut the…I'm jus' tryin' t' help!"

"You promised…" Noodle said in a hushed voice as she continued to shake, tears falling on the metal siding where they were, "You promised that nothing would happen!" she repeated, her voice raising in volume. Somewhere further down the wreck 2D stirred, a quiet whine indicating his presence.

"Wut, no I didn'!" he protested. Noodle's head jerked up and she glared at him, though the look held very little malice amongst the sheer and obvious terror that was in them. Murdoc blinked and finally recalled the moment before they'd boarded the train when he'd half attentively muttered an agreement to 2D's promised, "…oh, back there…" he finally muttered rather dimly, wincing and rubbing his knuckles across the back his neck with his uninjured hand, "Look, Noods, none of us coulda seen this comin'," he explained softly, something in him strangely feeling guilty about the state his youngest band mate was in.

He didn't blame her; if he was a girl of fifteen in that situation, even he could admit that he'd be blubbering like an idiot in a corner somewhere, unable to do anything to survive. Noodle was at least willing to fight and persevere despite the fact that she was not only insanely frightened and injured but hurt as well about a promise of safety now broken.

"I warned you, _baka,_" she said softly in response. Murdoc blinked and gave an even quieter 'Wut?' of confusion. Slowly Noodle brushed a few tears away, though more came to quickly take their place, "'_Daikaiju'_, it means 'giant monster', Murdoc-san. There was a very large creature coming at the train," she explained as if it made absolutely perfect sense.

Murdoc sat back a little bit, staring at Noodle as if she'd grown another head within the past few seconds. Young as she was when she'd first arrived at Kong, Noodle had never, ever been one to indulge in childish fantasies of any kind. Rather, all of her creative and imaginative energy went in to thinking of innovative things for the band to succeed. She wasn't even afraid of the usual things kids were, such as the monster under the bed or the boogieman in the closet. Of course, growing up in a place like Kong, where the actual walking dead roamed the very property it sat on made it hard to be fearful of imaginary things.

So hearing the words 'giant monster' in _any_ language come out of Noodle's mouth was almost dumbfounding, not to mention completely improbable in Murdoc's mind. She wouldn't make stuff up, yet the possibility of adding monsters to the already messed up circumstances just made Murdoc's head hurt trying to put it together.

"Monster?" Murdoc echoed a few seconds later, receiving a slow nod from Noodle. Sighing heavily, he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to get past the fact that the most level headed and intelligent person he'd ever met in his screwed up life had basically told him that a monster was responsible for tearing up a fifty-five ton light rail locomotive. Instead he went back to what she'd originally said, "You warned us in Japanese, luv, and sorry t' say none of us blokes have bothered t' learn your language fluently enough to understand what 'Die-dack-oo' means,"

_That's amazing, _Noodle found herself thinking, _considering how many times I've called _you _that._

"_Daikaiju_," she corrected, "and how does that excuse it? One would think, Murdoc-san, that screaming _anything_ in a panicked state would have gotten your attention."

"Wutever!" Murdoc cried out, throwing his uninjured hand in the air, "Poin' is, shorty, warning or no', there was shit all we could do abou' it. We weren' drivin' this insane death drap."

Noodle let out her own ragged, heavy sigh of her own, amazed that for once she'd actually lost an argument against Murdoc, or that he'd some how managed to not resort to gibbering curses and insults to do so. Rather than respond verbally, though, she simply gave a short nod to what he'd said.

"Righ', so, barring any meteors plummetin' in t' us, I promise from 'ere on ou' we will do everythin' in our power to protect you an' fin' a way outta 'ere," he finished, "Now wut was it you were tryin' t' do?"

Noodle pointed back at the door and the halfway broken handle. Below them Russel had managed to crawl up near where they sat, positioning himself on the window with his knees drawn to his chest and his head on them. He was muttering to himself, clearly in a state of mild shock. From his position it was hard to tell if he'd sustained any injures, but his pants were torn in a few places.

"Conductor's area," she explained, gesturing to his injured arm, "They are required to carry some sort of first aid, and we all need it."

"Ah," Murdoc muttered, looking down at the injury himself. Though it hardly hurt enough to really register now that he was fully awake, he assumed Noodle was right, that they all needed tending to a certain extent. He looked back at her and held out his other hand. Though she frowned, she gave the extinguisher with little protest and slid away from the chair. Murdoc crawled up on to it and balanced himself the way she had before, lifting the extinguisher high above his head and slamming it down hard on the handle. There was a crack and the soft click of the lock disengaging as the handle dislodged from its holding. A satisfied smile passed briefly over Murdoc's features before he hopped back down and helped Noodle to her feet.

The girl got back on the chair and crawled catlike through the opening that had been provided. She vanished inside the front area for several minutes before her head popped back out and a large plastic first aid box and spill kit dropped in to Murdoc's hands.

"Thanks, luv," Murdoc said, putting the kit under one arm and helping her crawl back down.

"Muds, man, what the hell happened?" Russel finally spoke his voice just as dry and cracked as Murdoc's. He was still sitting on the window, though he'd managed to lift his head up. His white eyes were huge in his head, and his expression was a mix of disbelief and a strange sort of wonder.

"If I knew, mate, you'd be th' first one t' know," Murdoc answered, dropping down in to a crouch in front of him, "Hurt at all?"

Giving a soft grunt, Russel moved his legs out and showed that he'd been holding a hand over a rather nasty gash in his stomach. Several rivulets of blood had snaked over his fingers and had stained his hand red. Below where he sat the lower half of the seat had been torn sharply from the poles that held it up and crimson tipped the jagged end still attached to the floor, indicating where Russel had managed to injure himself. Murdoc grimaced and looked up at Noodle.

"I don-"

Noodle interrupted by taking the first aid box from him and lowering herself to her knees on the other side of Russel.

"I know first aid. Go check on 2D-san and his friend. I will get your arm when I am done with Russel-san," she explained softly, opening the container and digging through its contents until she found a package of extra large gauze pads. Murdoc made a sour face but didn't complain outwardly about being charged with taking care of the dullard. He rose and carefully made his way over the seats, dropping down to the sidewall once he reached the end of the upper platform.

Meanwhile Noodle softly instructed Russel to lift his shirt and move his hand, revealing a score about an inch and a half long and nearly an inch deep. Luckily for him most of the bleeding had stopped, and it didn't appear to be near any major blood ways that could complicate the wound. Noodle found herself sighing again anyway, shaking her head slowly as she tore the package open with her teeth and took out a thick bunch of gauze, pressing it tightly to the cut. Russel hissed at the jolt of pain that worked through his abdomen, but made no protests otherwise.

"_Gomen_ _nasai_," Noodle said politely as she continued worked with her other hand to retrieve medical tape and scissors from the kit, "You will need stitches once we find…" she trailed off, uncertain of what to say. What would they be looking for, anyway? They didn't even know what they were going to do once they'd found a way outside of the train, "once we get back to the hotel," she finally finished, her voice sounding painfully hallow and unhopeful.

Russel frowned and watched her work for a few seconds before suddenly snatching her hand in mid air as she went back for more gauze. She paused, looking up at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, little sistah," he said softly, his eyebrows creasing together in a baleful expression, "I heard what you were tellin' Muds. I know we messed up,"

Noodle's lips pursed and she simply shook her head, taking her hand back and returning to patching Russel up.

"Just get through this," she said after a moment, her tone suddenly thicker than before. Another tear fell from her eyes, though she kept her gaze down to avoid him seeing, "Just get through this and I will not care about stupid broken promises."

Russel frowned, wishing he could be of some comfort but unable to find anything to say. Eventually he gave a simple nod and let her finish what she was doing.

During this, Murdoc had a tiny bit of difficulty locating where 2D and the red haired girl had fallen. Given that most of the train had been completely destroyed, he didn't see how it could be so hard to find two people amongst the wreckage, but he hadn't been searching very hard, either. He wasn't in any hurry to hear brain ache complaining about how much pain he was in.

Eventually a soft coughing brought his attention to the partition that separated the center facing seats from the front facing seats. Glancing over he saw one knobby, yellow-nailed hand draped over the edge, fingers giving a few twitches as the coughing continued. Pulling himself up in that direction using the standing bars that were still intact, Murdoc eventually managed to get himself to the very last row of seats that hadn't been torn to hell in the crash, which just so happened to be right above where 2D and Kara had some how managed to come to rest. He crouched down on the back of the seat at a slightly backward angle, leering down at 2D as the blue haired man slowly opened his eyes.

The two stared at one another in a strange silence for a long time. The two laying there had clearly made out the worst injury wise due to their close proximity of what had torn through the train. Kara was still completely unconscious and the whole right side of her face was covered in partially dried blood, not to mention that her pant legs were shredded to the middle of her calf and knee on either side respectively, her legs laced with light burns and lacerations from how close she'd come to the tattered end of the car. Her right shoulder was bruised a nasty purple and a good majority of her Dickie's jacket was torn.

2D himself had about two more lumps to add to the one he'd received earlier, though they weren't terribly visible beneath his mussed blue hair. His right cheek was bruised, though not as badly as Kara's shoulder, and his left pantleg had been completely ripped off just below the knee, a long cut going across his knee. Amazingly he hadn't spoken a single word in the entire time Murdoc had stared at him, which was quite unusual for him. Murdoc supposed he was in just as much shock as Russel was.

"The bird alive?" Murdoc finally asked, gesturing with a fick of two fingers to Kara. 2D blinked and sat up slowly, wincing painfully as he turned to examine Kara carefully, putting two fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. It was there, but a little fainter than 2D would have liked. He then put his hand over her mouth and felt soft breath coming from her lips.

"Yeah, she is," he answered wearily, grunting as he pushed his sore body in to a better position and put his back against the angled floor for support, "Bad shape, though," he added.

"Wut about you?" Murdoc queried, though there was very little actual concern in his tone. He seemed to be asking simply out of obligation, which, even as dense as he could be, 2D noticed. Casting him a rather unconvinced look, the younger of the two gave a simple shrug.

"I'll live," he replied, giving much the same answer as he'd given to Noodle before. He had no doubts that his injuries weren't life threatening, but he was getting rather irritated at the sheer amount he was chalking up over the day.

Murdoc let a grunt slip past his lips as he rose to a standing position on the chair. For the first time since 2D could recall the older man refrained from insulting him or making any overall nasty comments, and though it came as a slight surprise, he simply figured that it was because they'd all been in an accident this time, and even Murdoc had enough tact to know that it wasn't the time to be doing it. He also didn't expect the pseudo-kindness to last very long, either.

"Noods go' a first aid kit. I'll send 'er up dis way when she's done with Russ," he said, his voice surprisingly soft as he spoke and his eyes glancing out of the tilted window on the other side of the train, more than likely at the strangely bright but foggy skyline that was visible beyond their strange and precarious perch inside the front of the building they'd hit.

2D gave a slow nod, his own gaze on Kara's unconscious and bloodied face. Murdoc stared at him for a long moment before silently jumping off the chair and crawling his way back down to the back end of the train.

A thick, disturbing quiet filled the train as Noodle finished patching Russ in relative silence, her face a mask of stoic concentration that hid how truly terrified she really was. After that she moved on to Murdoc's wounded arm, which was a relatively easy fix due to the shallow nature of the cut. The end result was a tight bandage that wound up his arm, making him look as though he'd just come out of a pyramid in Egypt and was taking his sweet time removing the mummy's wraps that may have shrouded his body. Once Noodle was done he rose and went to crawling about the wreckage, looking for a way out seeing as the ripped open half had actually gone so far in to the building there was nothing but rubble at the end, effectively blocking the one logical way of escape.

Eventually Noodle made her way up to 2D and Kara, slowly climbing up the seats and poles with the first aid kit clutched between her teeth by the handle. Once there she quickly looked over the two of them and then instructed 2D to carefully move the girl with her help to a flatter section of the train, which happened to be one of the windows that hadn't been blown out by the front portion being ripped off.

The young girl worked quickly, bandaging up what she could and repairing what the inadequate kit could manage. She worked on both of them, as quiet as ever, seeming unwilling to speak because it might reveal just how horribly frightened she still was. Once she finished with 2D, she closed the kit up and started to move away. 2D grabbed her arm and took the kit from her loosely clutched fingers, her eyes watching him with a look of distant curiosity.

"2D-san?" she finally questioned when he opened it and began rummaging through. He pulled out the last of the gauze package and gestured for her to sit next to him.

"Yer hurt too, luv," he said quietly, glancing up with his hand still in the kit, his eyebrows knotted together as if he'd been surprised that she didn't seem aware of it. Slowly Noodle lifted up two fingers and touched her head where the blood had dried in three small rivers down her cheek. She pulled her hand away and also noticed the small lacerations and bruises across the back of her hand and fingers.

"Oh…" she muttered, her voice wavering a bit. 2D could see that she was trying her hardest to fight back the tears that threatened to come and he found his heart wrenching in emotional turmoil at seeing her so upset. Sighing heavily he took her injured hand and began wrapping gauze around it, shaking his head slightly.

"'m worried 'bout you, Noods. Never seen you like dis," he admitted softly. Noodle closed her eyes, a barely heard hiccup causing her body to give a slight jerk. She put her free hand over her face, her shoulders slumping.

"I'm scared, 2D-san," she admitted, her voice sounding so tiny, so pathetic and unlike her that 2D's heart gave another twist. He sighed again, something that was becoming a bit of a habit over the course of the day, and tied the gauze on her hand, keeping a hold of it for another minute as he looked up in to her watery eyes.

"Me too," he said, "'m terrified even. We all are, even if some won' admit i'. I's no' like dis is normal, even by wut we do. Bu'…we'll ge' through, some 'ow. We're still alive, after all."

Noodle sniffled quietly, her free hand falling to her lap as she looked away from him.

"Do not make promises you cannot keep,"

"I's no' a promise,"

Noodle's eyebrows scrunched together and she let her gaze return to his face, a frown creasing her lips.

"It sounds like one," she countered, causing 2D to shake his head and let a very tiny but rather emotionless smile creep on to his features.

"I's a feelin'," he assured her.

Before Noodle had a chance to argue with him, Murdoc came crawling back up to them on the other side. Hanging from one of the bars with one hand, he gestured with his bandaged to something behind him.

"Load yer selves up, kiddies. We're ou' of this death trap,"


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"Are you sure about this?" Noodle asked uncertainly as she crouched in the cramped, tilted conductor's cab, staring at the small side window that faced the inside of the building that the train had run in to. Beyond the window some sort of small office could be seen, mostly in ruins and slightly obscured by swirls of heavy dust that hovered in the air.

"Yer the only one small enough," Murdoc explained from behind her as he dug through the various cubby holes and compartments that were in the cab. To Noodle's right, a darkened control panel sat in deathly silence, seeming to mock their instance to remain alive and even some what hopeful in the face of a terribly bleak situation, "and i's the only spot where nothin's in the way. If you could ge' t' the door, you, Russ and I can pry i' open from two sides."

Noodle watched the older man over her shoulder with a tight lipped frown, shifting her weight on her knees so that her legs wouldn't fall asleep from the uncomfortable angle that she was sitting in. Murdoc finally found what he was looking for and announced his discovery with a cheer of 'Hail Satan!' before he squirmed out of the cubby hole he'd crawled in to and held up a large, slightly grimy wrench.

"I do not want to leave you all in here," Noodle said after Murdoc had joined her near the small window, handing the rather cumbersome tool to the small girl after she spoke.

"Yer not," he said calmly, shaking his head, "Yer gonna go open the door, and we'll ge' the bloody hell ou' of dis thing,"

"And if I can't get the door open?"

"Then we think of sum'in' else. You gonna keep blatherin' at me or ge' goin' through the damn window?" Murdoc snapped rather gruffly, his newly gained patience already starting to thin. Noodle huffed her own frustrated sigh and turned back to the window, fumbling with the wrench until she managed to find a way to stick it in the back of her pants in such a manner that it wouldn't slip out as she tried to go through the small opening.

"Ready?"

"As I will ever be, Murdoc-san," Noodle grumbled. Murdoc picked up the other object he'd retrieved from his searching, a light but sturdy crowbar, and positioned himself in front of Noodle, covering his face with one arm as he began to slam the curved end of the object against the small window repeatedly. Eventually the fourth-inch thick safety glass gave way, spider cracking in the center where Murdoc concentrated most of the force of his hits, and he was able to lift one booted foot up to press the loosened material out of the black rubber molding that it sat in. The shattered window gave way and fell away, clattering noisily in the thick silence inside the building as it landed on a pile of rubble that lay below the tilted side of the train.

Murdoc moved away from the window and gestured to it with his crowbar.

"See yeh on the other side, luv,"

Taking a deep breath and one last look at Murdoc, Noodle quickly crawled up to the edge of the window and shimmied her way through opening, putting both hands out in front of her as she did so. Once her hands touched the small mound of debris that had fallen beneath the tilted side of the train, she used her position to easily summersault out of the train on to the carpeted floor of the office. Coughing at the amount of dust she'd kicked up, she slowly rose and surveyed her surroundings.

What she'd thought to be an office was a very close assumption; however it wasn't a conventional office by any means. Large pieces of broken window lying on the floor indicated that this was actually some sort of city-police run prevention program. The now dirty rug in the center of what was clearly a lobby floor confirmed this with a giant shield emblem announcing its connection to the Portland City Police Department, and a slightly dust-obscured sign above a receptionist desk declared 'Street Prevention: An Ever Growing Community'.

From where the train had landed several chairs and benches had been knocked over. A coffee table was on its side, a scattering of magazines and newspapers littering the floor. A water cooler on the other side of the wall had also been knocked over, the large five gallon jug slowly spilling the remainder of its contents via a small trickle on to an already large dampened spot on the floor.

_Great._ _We broke a police office. That is going to be fun to explain._

"Noodle!" Murdoc yelled through the open window, snapping her out of her thoughtful trance. Noodle spun around to look at him in confusion, "The door," he informed her rather shortly, gesturing towards the object in question.

Noodle muttered a half hearted apology and picked her way through the mass of ruins until she was able to crawl up to a steady enough spot near the tilted sliding doors. Looking down she could see that there was just barely enough space for the doors to move outward. It would allow a big enough gap that most of them could get through, even Russel, though he'd definitely be a tight squeeze for the larger man.

On the inside of the train, Murdoc hopped back down from the conductor's cab, twirling the small crowbar in his fingers as he carefully moved to where Russel and 2D stood at the double doors that would, if all went as they planned, lead them to eventual freedom. 2D was squinting through the haze at Noodle's form, a worried expression creasing in to his face. A little ways down from them, Kara still lay unconscious on the window above the center facing seats, her tattered bag and jacket situated next to her.

"You sure i's safe t' leave 'er ou' der?" he asked quietly, glancing up at Russel to indicate that the question was directed mostly at him. Ignoring the obvious as usual, Murdoc interrupted the second Russel opened his mouth.

"No, bu' unless yer keen on rottin' in this thing fer the rest of eternity, I suggest you take a side an' start pullin', face ache," the older man grumbled as he moved up to the door and crawled to the top of it, using the small foot-wide space above it to position himself where he could get the crowbar in to the crack. He jammed the end of the curved section between the two rubber lined sections of the door and yelled for Noodle to do the same with her wrench down at the bottom. She did as he instructed and between the two of them they were able to pull the door open just a crack. 2D and Russel then moved in and pushed their fingers in to the free space.

"Ready?" Murdoc asked as he exchanged looks with each of them. Everyone nodded, and on his count of three they all began pulling, pushing, and prying. The door gave horrid, loud screeching noises of protest as it tried to resist the group's prying. It shuttered against its track, the sheer force of the locked hydraulics that were used to operate the door being enough to give the four of them sufficient problems in getting it open. Just when it seemed as if the door wasn't going to give and their tired, burning muscles would relinquish before the contraption did, there was a sharp, metallic ripping sound that filled the cab and the opening became wider, just enough to let them all through as Noodle had previous thought. 2D stumbled at the sudden jerk and fell flat on his face, but Russel was able to keep a hold of his end and Murdoc jumped down to the side and grabbed the other one, their combined strength keeping the doors from automatically slamming closed again. Noodle also stumbled backwards from where she was standing, tumbling end over end rather ungracefully to the carpeted floor below.

"D! Get the girl and get out!" Russel grunted to the fallen singer, his arms trembling as he and Murdoc desperately held on to keep the door open. Though they could attempt prying the door once more if it closed, there was no guarantee that the noise they'd heard wasn't the sound of the hydraulics breaking to such a degree that it would have been jammed permanently shut.

Quite frankly, no one there was willing to even risk the chance.

2D scrambled to his feet and went to where Kara lay, quickly pulling her dead weight frame on to his back and snagging her belongings in to his other hand, grunting as he realized that her weight was much more than Noodle's. Clumsily and awkwardly, he stumbled towards the door, pausing just before the opening to toss the messenger bag and jacket down to Noodle, who'd finally gotten to her feet again and was waiting nervously for her band mates to get through the limited opening. She caught the objects easily and called out for 2D to hurry.

He hesitated. He didn't know why, but standing there staring down in to Noodle's pleading eyes, looking at the ruined office that he was about to jump in to, he locked up. His heart started to pound against his ribcage again, much the way it had when he'd come across the desolate town for the first time, and a terrible sensation washed over him. Despite the crash there was a certain bizarre sense of safety within the trashed train, as if what was left of the metal walls and glass windows could protect them from something far worse than what had occurred. That meant that going in to the office, leaving the sanctuary of the MAX car, meant stepping in to something that they, even as residents of a place like Kong Studios, might not be able to handle. He felt sick, and he desperately wanted to reach down and yank Noodle back inside and stay on the train, even if Murdoc had said that they'd essentially be trapped inside there.

The doors gave a sudden jerk inward, completely shattering his line of thought and causing Russel and Murdoc to cry out loudly. They yanked back as hard as they could to keep them from closing completely, their arms quaking against the force.

"GO, TUSSPOT!" Murdoc roared at the suddenly indecisive 2D. Just then Kara let out a soft moan and shifted slightly on 2D's back. He looked over his shoulder at her, frowning lightly as she slowly roused in to consciousness. She mumbled something that sounded like a name, but he couldn't quite identify what her soft voice had spoken. His hesitation was gone, and like it or not, they were going outside. There was very little he could do about it anyway.

"Hang on, Kara!" he cried out before leaping out of the opening and hitting the ground roughly. He fumbled, unable to keep his footing from the oddly angled drop and the smattering of debris that he'd landed on. His foot snagged between two large pieces of crumbled wall and he tilted to the side, Kara rolling off his shoulders rather roughly. A second later he and Kara were both on the ground, 2D groaning from a new found pain lancing through his already throbbing skull from a badly placed piece of wall cement that his head connected with, and Kara curled up on her side as the jolt of falling had roused her completely in to a very disturbing and unwanted consciousness.

"...goddess, I thought I was dreaming," she whispered in a hoarse, awed voice, her eyes staring wide eyed at the train wreckage that lay before her. Her stomach turned sour and churned in a completely new kind of terror that washed over her, though she didn't have the strength of conviction to get up and be sick somewhere.

At the train, Murdoc and Russel were still struggling to keep the sliding doors from closing on them. The doors continued to groan, creak, and snap in protest as they trembled against the two men holding them open.

"Murdoc-san! They're going to close!" Noodle cried out worriedly. Russel looked to Murdoc and grunted as his feet threatened to slip and his arms shook terribly.

"Go," he ordered, staring at the greasy haired bassist. Murdoc shook his head vehemently, grimacing as the section he was holding open pressed harder and harder against his already wounded arm.

"No way. On three, we both jump out," he offered. Russel frowned, his body getting pushed forward a bit more as the broken but still pressured hydraulics thrust enough force against him to actually cause him to move, "They won' hold! If we don' go now..." Murdoc trailed off, his expression actually betraying a hint of concern for the first time that Russel could ever recall.

"...crazy crackah ass. Right. On three!"

"One!"

"Two!"

There was the briefest of hesitations as the two of them stared at each other in uncertainty, a moment of doubt as to what they were leaving and what they were possibly walking in to. It was the same odd, ill-feeling sense that had overcome 2D when he'd gone to jump out. Within that flash of a second, though, Murdoc was nearly shoved away from the door as it tried once more to throw off its humanoid shackles, and certainty replaced doubt instantly.

"THREE!" they yelled, hurling themselves away from the doors and down to the floor below. They rolled down the pile of rubble, cursing as a few more bruises were added to their already injured bodies.

The doors creaked loudly and proceeded to slam closed on their own volition, the force of their snap-back actually causing the windows to shatter in their holdings and a loud crash to ring through the building. A tense silence followed, broken only by 2D groaning at the horridly intense migraine he'd earned and Kara muttering incoherently under her breath while she stared in utter and complete disbelief at the train.

It wasn't long before Murdoc was on his feet, dusting his jeans off with his hands and using the time to gaze around where they'd managed to land. Russel followed shortly, a hand on his shoulder where a piece of rebar from the broken wall had jabbed him rather uncomfortably but left him uninjured when he landed. One eyebrow arched upwards on his head when he realized what they were in.

"A police station?" he muttered in an a tone belying the irony that he suddenly felt, "We crash a damn train and land in a _police station_?"

"We didn' crash shit," Murdoc hissed, digging in his pockets until he locate a partially crushed pack of smokes, putting one between his teeth with a scowl, "Wutevah _hit_ us did tha' jus' beau'ifuly. An' I dun think i's a 'station', Russ. Looks like an office of sum sort,"

Russel stared at the greasy man while he lit the cigarette hanging out from his teeth and took a long drag. In no mood to argue with him, he gave a grumbled 'whatever' and shoved his hands in the pockets of his baggy cargo jeans.

"It's clearly police run, man," he added a few seconds later after staring at the billboard behind the receptionist's desk.

"Yer point?" Murdoc quipped as he blew out smoke from between his jagged teeth.

"My point, Muds," Russel said as calmly as he could manage, resisting the urge to slap a hand against his face as he so often did when Murdoc behaved in his usual manner, "Sumin' whack is goin' on here, and I fer one would feel better if we at least get some damn supplies and maybe a weapon or two."

It was Murdoc's turn for a questionably raised eyebrow.

"Weapons?" he echoed, throwing his hands in the air dramatically, "Fer what? The bloody city's ghosted, Russ! We and tha' damned red headed bird are the only ones 'ere! What're we gonna fight? _FOG!_"

During their conversation Noodle had moved to where 2D was kneeling with his head in his hands in an attempt to nurse the severe, pounding migraine he had. She'd been talking to him softly, mostly ignoring what was going on in front of her in her attempt to assist her friend any way she could, but upon sensing the beginning of yet another argument her head snapped up rather suddenly. Her dark eyes narrowed while Russel proceeded to explain in a quickly rising tone that Murdoc was not quite sane if he believed that there was nothing they needed to protect themselves from. She huffed a heavy, irritated sigh and rose to her feet, speaking softly to 2D after he'd lifted his own head to stare at her in confusion. She marched over to the two men, surprising them by pushing herself in between their bodies, her hands on each of their stomachs as her short form some how kept them apart.

Maybe she was scared, terrified even, of what they'd gotten themselves in to, but she was tired of having the two of them carry on as if nothing was wrong. She put aside her own gut wrenching feelings, reminding herself that she was tougher than she'd been acting, and if anyone was going to keep the group together it was going to have to be her.

"Enough!" she snapped loudly, glaring at both of them and silencing their bickering, "We are not in a situation for petty arguments and childishness!"

"You should talk!" Murdoc growled back, miffed that he was once again being told off by some one three times his junior, "OW! Crickey, wut the hell!" he exclaimed breathlessly, bending over as a sudden, sharp pain lanced through his stomach causing him to clutch at it with his free hand. Noodle had roughly jabbed two fingers in to his gut, the move striking a nerve in order to silence him.

"Whatever is going on," she started as evenly as she could, tossing a threatening look up to a rather stunned Russel, "it has put us in a very dangerous situation. I, for one, do not feel like dying today, and I would hope that the two of you feel the same. If we are going to survive we must stop arguing with one another and instead work _together_ to get out of this! We are a band, let us act like one for once in our lives!"

Murdoc slowly straightened himself up, arm still wrapped around his stomach as he and Russel shared a long, tense stare. Noodle watched them closely, her arms still held out incase any more fighting should break out between the two so-called adults.

"Little sistah's right, Muds," Russel finally said, his voice much softer than before.

"Ehh," Murdoc groaned, looking down at the fringe-covered eyes that were now trained intently on him. He took a drag off his slowly fading cigarette and let the smoke slowly float out from his mouth, "Righ', righ'. Sorry Noodle girl," he finally muttered, stepping away from her to avoid any other unseen attacks that might come flying from the little axe princess. He extended his hand to Russel and the two men shook in a truce, "Weapons i' is. Shall we?" he asked, gesturing with a grandiose move to the door that stood to the right of the desk. Russel nodded, and they picked their way through the trashed office to the door and what lay beyond it.

After the door had been open and they'd disappeared in to the darkness beyond, Noodle went back to where 2D sat. He'd finally gotten off his knees and was simply sitting in the middle of the floor with his head still in his hands. The girl red haired girl that Noodle had heard 2D call 'Kara' before jumping out of the train had moved from where she'd been laying, muttering in wide eyed shock, and had grabbed her belongings from where the Asian girl had dropped them. She now had her back against the wall and was clutching the bag to her chest as if it were a life preserver in a storm. Though her expression had become a bit more normal, her skin still held a sickly pale tone and she seemed to be not all there at the moment, her eyes trained on some far off location beyond the window that her gaze was trained on.

2D gave a start when he felt Noodle's thin hand grasp his shoulder lightly. A halted gasp escaped his lips and his body tensed for a second, but relaxed once he realized that it was simply his younger friend coming to check on him. She stared at him with concern obvious in her round face.

"2D-san, are you feeling all right?"

"M' 'ead hurts..." he muttered quietly, rubbing the heel of his partially sleeve covered hand over the top of his forehead. He'd pulled down the sleeves of his long shirt and was clutching the hem with his fingers pressed in to his palm. It was an odd little habit he had, and one that didn't come up unless he was feeling particularly horrid and wanted nothing more than to crawl in to a warm bed with a thick comforter and sleep until the sun set.

"I am sorry, there is nothing I can do about that," Noodle said, a deep frown creasing her lips. 2D managed to some how force a hollow smile past the horrid, sharp pain shooting through his head and gently patted her hair.

"Dun worry," he told her, feigning confidence he really didn't have, "I'll be fine."

Noodle returned his statement with a skeptical look, but chose not to press him any further on the issue. Wounds were one thing, easily patched up and mended so long as they weren't life threatening. Pounding migraines that were a combined result of old injuries, current bumps, and over all stress required pain killers, which neither of them had, and sleep, which no one there was about to suggest he try and get.

Instead of dwelling on it, Noodle turned her attention to the red head against the wall. Kara's eyes were no longer disturbingly vacant, but to say she looked calm and healthy would have been an out and out lie. Noodle wondered how she hadn't completely snapped yet.

"What about your friend?" the young girl asked 2D, gesturing towards the wall. 2D turned, blinking in clear surprise. He'd actually forgotten about Kara, though not intentionally. The agony ripping through his head was to blame for that. Slowly he rose and managed to stagger over to her, Noodle walking beside him with a hand on his arm to ensure that he didn't go toppling over again. He stood over her, waiting for her mind to register his presence. Slowly she tilted her head up, her eyes narrowing as her mind slowly processed who he was and forced memories from before the train crash in to the front of her thoughts.

"2D..." she finally mumbled, her voice a little slurred. The blue haired man managed a small grin as he went over to the wall and took a seat beside her. Kara rubbed her face with one hand, wincing as her fingers brushed across the gauze that had been tied around her head where she'd received the nasty head injury that caused her to be out for so long.

"You 'member me den?" 2D asked after he'd curled his knees back to his chest and rested his arms across his knees. He looked sideways at the red head, watching her fingers trace a pattern over the bandage.

"Yeah. Took me a moment," she admitted, a heavy, weary sigh escaping her lips, "Guess I whanged my head pretty damn hard. I barely remember anything after talking to you,"

Noodle took up the spot on the other side of Kara, nodding slowly to her.

"You were quite injured, but lucky. If 2D had not caught you when he did, you would have wound up underneath _that,_" the Asian informed her, pointing at the remaining section of the MAX. Kara's eyes followed the teen's thin finger, her expression darkening once more upon seeing the damage that was done. After a moment of silence she found herself dropping her face in to her hand, dimly taking note that she could barely move her other arm.

"Why can't my life be normal for once?" she moaned, her voice muffled from her palm being positioned just over her mouth. The other two stared at her, then at each other in clear confusion, but via a silent agreement neither pressed Kara to go in to what she meant. Instead 2D went digging for his cigarettes and rose to his feet once more, stepping to the other side of the room to light up away from the girls.

Noodle sat in contemplative silence, her ears twitching every time she heard faint shuffling, either from 2D as he smoked or from beyond the open door. Occasionally she could make out distant, far away voices, and though she could not hear words she felt comforted knowing that Russel and Murdoc were still in ear shot. Eventually a soft whine brought her attention back to the current room, her eyes traveling to Kara as the older girl gingerly pressed two fingers against the nasty, deep bruise that covered most of her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" Noodle asked. Kara winced as another light press brought sharp pains to her arm and nodded slowly.

"I'll be okay. Its not broken, which is a blessing to count, I suppose,"

2D turned his gaze away from the window he was staring out of while taking slow, long drags off his cigarette and allowing the nicotine to soothe some of his aches away.

"Pro'ly the only one," he commented, his tone suddenly dark as he crossed his arms across his chest and gestured towards the window with a jerk of his head, the dwindling cigarette dangling loosely between two fingers. Kara and Noodle exchanged a look of uncertainty, both slowly rising to join 2D out the window.

"Why are you being so negative, 2D?" Noodle asked as she approached. 2D frowned, bringing the cigarette back to his lips, pausing instead of taking a drag.

"Doesn' look promisin', luv," he informed the two of them, his lips pulled tight on his narrow face. The whole situation was obviously not a good one, nor a promising one as he had so aptly put it, but something else was bothering him. Ever since the first hit to the head he'd taken, he'd been thinking far more clearly than he'd managed to do so in years, and it gave him an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not only was the situation not right by any conventional or unconventional means, there seemed to be so much more beneath the strange surface that they were all seeing. For all his unexplainable clear thinking he couldn't grasp whatever it was that was hiding just beyond the fringe of understanding, and that was more frustrating than his bizarre understanding of what they were in.

What he was actually seeing didn't help matters, either.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"Its...its still empty..." Kara muttered softly, moving past 2D to press her fingers against the ice cold glass that they were all staring out of. Just beyond, a disturbing scene that was the cause of 2D's emotional discomfort greeted everyone's gaze.

The street running parallel with the building's side was shrouded in a thick, disconcerting fog. It was the same still fog that 2D had noticed upon exiting the car park, however it had risen, blotting out everything outside of a five foot radius and giving an overall claustrophobic sensation to the building. Adding to it was the presence of what appeared to be thick, grayish snow floating down inside the fog, landing and vanishing on the street the second it touched. Nothing moved outside, almost like the entire town had sucked in one large breath and was holding it so as not to disrupt the unnatural stillness. Everything seemed to be pressing in on their location, trying to suffocate them like a giant pressing a heavy blanket down upon the city.

Kara's breath steamed up the window as she touched her nose to the glass, her eyes squinting as if looking hard and long enough would bring normalcy back to the city and return everything to the way it once was. 2D watched the girl for a long time before placing a hand on her shoulder, bringing her mind back to reality. She looked at him slowly, her eyes baleful and eyebrows scrunched up in a strange, pained expression.

"This was my home, 2D. All the people that were here..." she trailed off, her voice still hushed and cracking slightly. Her fingers trembled visibly on the window, leaving uneven streaks through the damp mist her breath had left behind.

"I know," 2D replied, uncertain of what else he could say to comfort her, "I 'unno wut t' tell you, girl..." he admitted after a long pause. Noodle watched the two, her own face natural but her mind far from it. She felt bad for the girl. While they were all in the same predicament, Kara had an emotional attachment to the city of Portland that the band did not, and beyond that she had an attachment to the people she knew and loved there, people who's fates were uncertain as of that moment. Noodle could only imagine what kind of things would be wracking her own mind had this occurred in Essex rather than in the states.

2D opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by the sounds of Russel and Murdoc coming back through the door. All three heads turned towards the noise as the other two members of the band came in to view, arms laden with supplies. Both carried a mismatched collection of items, from random vending machine snacks to police issue black four and six cell D battery Maglite flashlights. It was clear they'd simply gone in looking for anything and everything that could assist them.

"Oi, dullard, get over 'ere," Murdoc grumbled, stopping near the desk. 2D crushed the end of his cigarette out on the wall and proceeded over to the older man, tossing the butt in a small metal trash bin.

"Yeah? Oomph!" 2D grunted as he found a pile of supplies suddenly thrust in to his arms, a few heavier objects jabbing in to his stomach, "Wut 'is?" he asked after the momentary ache in his gut subsided. Murdoc reached down and plucked a long six-cell Maglite off the top of the pile.

"Russ 'n I are gonna go ou', check things, see if there's 'ny way t' ge' us ou' of this mess," Murdoc explained as he checked the flashlight over, pressing the button and momentarily drenching the ceiling in a sickly yellow light. 2D's eyebrows pressed together as he continued, dropping the flashlight to his side as he looked up in to the young singer's blank eyes, "Ge' this stuff loaded up in t' the bags Russ 'n I found while we're gone. Yer stayin' with the girls 'til we ge' back, understood?"

2D went to protest their decision but was suddenly cut off and rather roughly shoved to the side, by a suddenly frantic Noodle who'd come running up the second she caught what Murdoc was saying. She grabbed him roughly by the bottom of his jacket, causing him to stumble a little and give a grunt of surprise at her sudden arrival. 2D grumbled as he rose from the desk where he'd fallen against, a few small items dropping from his arms.

"You can't! Murdoc-san, I told you there are-"

"Monsters," Murdoc finished, peeling Noodle's hands off of his shirt and holding her back by her wrists. Slowly he crouched down until he was eye level with the girl, staring in to her baleful gaze with a stern expression, "Noodle girl, I'm no' callin' you a liar, bu' even wit e'erything tha' happened, I'm havin' a bloody hard time believin' that monsters are havin' 'nything t' do with wut's goin' on,"

"Then what caused that?" Kara interjected from the window, her head turned to stare at the trio. Russel seemed to be ignoring the lot of them as he was crouched on the floor, stuffing a few random supplies in to the backpack he'd grabbed from their rental car after the crash.

"Yeah, Murdoc," 2D agreed, shifting his load on to the desk and using his newly freed hands to gesture to the mess that Kara had been indicating, "If sum creature did' do 'at, then wut did?"

Grumbling in annoyance, Murdoc released the Asian teen's wrists and turned his murderous glare on to 2D.

"A car," he said dryly, raising an eyebrow in a nonverbal challenge for 2D to deny that it could be anything but what he'd just stated.

"...a car?" 2D echoed, his own eyebrows lifting in absolute disbelief. His head turned to stare at the damage for a brief moment before he turned back and raised one narrow, bony finger at the wreckage, "Does _THAT_ look like a bloody _CAR_ t' you, Murdoc?" he demanded, voice rising in pitch and volume as he spoke.

Murdoc's lip twitched in to an angered sneer and his hand twitched, longing to grab the blue haired singer by his skinny neck and throttle him. A lingering pain in his gut reminded him that Noodle was within arm's length of his more sensitive regions, and not wanting to feel that pain anywhere else; he refrained from inflicting agony on the singer and simply looked down at Noodle instead.

"Yer scared?" he asked gruffly.

"Why should I not be? It is not like we are safe here." Noodle snapped back in a rather huffy tone.

"We won' be gone long, bu' if yer really tha' worried, 'ere." Fishing something out of the pile of items that 2D had placed on the desk, Murdoc turned and handed a small but wicked looking riot baton to the teen. She frowned at it, giving the object an experimental twirl before responding to Murdoc with a muttered thanks in her native tongue. She turned away from him, shoulders hunched in clear irritation at Murdoc's incessant belief that nothing short of a manmade object could have torn through the MAX.

_Just because you do not see something, _Noodle mused as she went to stand by Kara again, her arms crossing over her chest, _does not mean that it does not exist. You would think that some one who blatantly worships the Christian devil would be able to see past the veil of the 'normal' world, especially after everything that has happened..._

Kara's bright teal eyes turned towards Noodle, her twitchy, nervous frown pulling a little deeper in to her pale toned face. Gently she rested a gentle hand on the girl's bony shoulder, causing Noodle to blink and look up at the woman who was merely a stranger only hours ago. Kara's mouth managed to lift in to a comforting smile, and Noodle couldn't help but return the gesture. They stood in silent agreement and understanding, grateful for one another's company.

2D on the other hand was unable to enjoy such mental camaraderie. Instead he was watching Murdoc gather his own supplies with an irritated, dark expression. As Murdoc grabbed the last of what he wished to carry, he finally afforded the younger man a glance.

"Don'," he warned in a menacing tone.

"You shouln'-" 2D started, only to be rudely cut off by Murdoc's hand being thrust in to his face. The bassist shoved an army-issue shoulder bag in to 2D's arms as he began talking in a slow, even voice, giving a thinly masked attempt at keeping calm rather than flying off the handle as he so often did.

"I said don', Tusspot. Maybe I'm no' actin' i', bu' I'm fully aware tha' sum'in's goin' on. I'm tryin' t' keep our happy arses alive an' fin' a way _OU'. _'unno abou' you, bu' I would _much_ rather be a' home a' Kong, safe an' doin' our own thin', dealin' wit _our own crap_, an' not here. So 'ows abou' you shu'p an' do wut I said?"

2D's dark eyes gazed at Murdoc's oddly colored ones as the office filled with the same suffocating silence as before. Finally 2D gave a reluctant, defeated sigh and turned to the desk and the items piled on top.

"Fine," he replied in a tiny voice, yanking the ties of the bag open and angrily shoving things in to it, "Bu' if you ge' yerself killed, don' 'spect me t' care."

"Never asked fer you t'. No' like I'd care if you bi' the bulle' either," Murdoc grunted, shouldering the bag that he had and pushing the end of the Maglite in to his pocket. After situating another cigarette in his mouth he headed over to where Russel was waiting with his bag and light. The train had left just enough clearance on the right side of the building for a gap that could be crawled through carefully. Beyond the space thick fog gave the world a gray, blank slate appearance.

Russel gave Murdoc a strange, unidentifiable look, but if he was going to scold him for being so mean to 2D or comment on his disbelief of the situation, he said nothing. It was on his mind, but he wanted to get out and get home as much as the bassist did. Following Murdoc out of the gap, he decided it wouldn't have done any good to speak his mind anyway; he was simply too stubborn to admit he was wrong until his error came up and slapped him in the face, and even then it was debatable as to whether or not he admitted the mistake after that.

Kara felt her heart give a jump as she heard the two men shuffle through the pile of broken concrete that lay at the base of the hole, her head craning over her shoulder to watch their movements through a veil of red from her wavy bangs hanging before her eyes. Within a few minutes they'd slipped through, and their forms were quickly swallowed by the grayness beyond.

A soft muttering tugged her train of thought away from the two leaving and caused both her and Noodle to turn in 2D's direction. He was still throwing things in to the army bag, his movements jerky and tense as if he were trying to push the very energy of his anger in to the bag with the supplies. Kara sighed, rubbing a hand over her mouth and then over her tousled hair, adjusting her glasses before taking a few steps towards the angered man. Once near the table she picked up the remaining bag, catching 2D's attention long enough for him to look up at her with a questioning expression.

"Wut...?"

"No point in just standing around doing nothing," Kara explained, a half hearted smile breaking the monotony of her almost constant blank facade. She held the bag up to indicate what she meant when his eyebrow raised in uncertainty. After a pause of deliberation, a thought crossing his mind that he should just be left to the task himself, he realized that he would actually enjoy the company. He said as much, adding in silently that it was better than worrying about some one who couldn't even bother to so much as listen to what his band mates had to say.

--------

"Russ,"

"Yeah, Muds?"

"There _was_ a bridge 'ere, yeah?"

"Yeah. Was,"

"Den where the bloody hell is i' NOW!"

Murdoc's voice echoed loudly despite the heavy fog that surrounded them, the word 'now' bouncing like a verbal ping pong ball and shattering the deafening silence. Murdoc stood with his arms open wide as he and his African American companion stared at a very unnerving sight.

Where a road should have continued onward towards the famous Portland Steel Bridge that spanned over the majestic Willamette River, a sheer drop stood in its place, as if a giant of epic proportions had simply come tearing through the very earth itself and decimated everything in and beneath its path. Even the buildings themselves that once stood river side had simply been broken, blasted through with bits of cement, rebar, and various other attachments simply hanging limply from their foundations. All around them the endless fog pressed ever closer, the mist and strange grayish flakes falling from the sky blotting out everything beyond the view of the shattered road, and from where they stood the gap seemed to stretch on forever outward and down. The edge of the world that the skeptics of old spoke of to the adventurous Christopher Columbus had appeared in reality, leaving the two men standing at it to wonder what they were going to do next.

Murdoc took the end of the cigarette out of his mouth and leaned over the precarious edge, casually flicking the still smoking butt in to the chasm. He and Russel watched it fall and eventually vanish in to the substantial, disturbing mist. The two exchanged slightly nervous looks and Russel bent down to lift a chunk of torn up asphalt in to his large hand, rising up a second later and holding it out from the edge. His fingers opened and the blackened piece of road decended at a rapid pace before it, too, simply vanished in to the fog. They waited, listening to the thick silence that surrounded them. Some estimated three minutes passed and the sound of the stone hitting solid ground never reached their ears.

"…well that's a mite disconcerting, mate," Murdoc muttered, shoving his hands in to his pockets as his gaze traveled over their immediate surroundings. Russel gave a non committal grunt and scratched at his bald head uncertainly, his lips pressing together tightly as he tried to formulate some other plan.

Chances were, at the rate things were going down hill for them, that it wasn't the only area in that condition, and the pressing fog along with the distinct lack of transportation or life left them with very little options. It didn't help that what Noodle had said about monsters was still weighing heavily on his mind, even if Murdoc had dismissed it as mere hearsay. At that moment things weren't dire, but even with the absence of monsters they were still injured, and their gained supplies from the police office would only last so long. Russel found himself chewing nervously on his lower lip, a habit he hadn't done in years. He wasn't so much afraid as he was worried, especially about his band mates. While Murdoc may have been the eldest member, that didn't mean he could be counted on to keep everyone safe. Murdoc put himself first and foremost in any thought in that deranged mind of his, even if he did occasionally do something selfless.

His thought process drawn back to the greasy bassist, Russel looked up to speak to him and found that Murdoc was no longer at his side. A quick scan showed his form slowly receding in to the fog, his steps slow as he, too, seemed to be contemplating something. He was mostly moving because he was absently kicking a dented soda can along the road with his boot and appeared to be following its movements more than going on his own will.

"Muds, man, where the hell you goin'?" Russel demanded sternly. Murdoc waved a hand in the air, showing that he'd taken another cigarette out but still hadn't lit it yet as it rested untouched by flame between two fingers. He grumbled something that was completely incoherent and only served to annoy Russel greater, "Niccals, git yer scrawny ass back here!"

Murdoc stopped shuffling along and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, a scowl tugging around his jagged, discolored teeth as she prepared to yell at Russel for his choice of wording. He instantly changed his mind, though, when a large, dark figure became visible in the shrouded air near Russel. His mismatched eyes squinted in to the distance, trying to identify what exactly the thing was. Russel continued to call his name, attempting to get his attention with a series of insults and demands that seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

As the thing got closer, Murdoc realized that it wasn't just flying; it was flying _at _them, its altitude steadily decreasing as it approached at a surprisingly quick pass. When he was able to distinguish some sort of features through the vapor, he could barely make out large moth-like wings that were far too big to belong to any sort of insect and, if he was counting correctly despite the movement, eight long vaguely human-ish arms.

His mind barely had time to register the fact that Noodle had actually been right all along before the thought switched over to the fact that Russel was completely and utterly unaware of what was bearing down on him. The reactions following were automatic, unbidden but done before he realized just what he was doing. He ran back in the direction he'd been ambling from previously and grabbed Russel's large right forearm, yanking the bigger man down with a cry of "Look ou'!"

They tumbled to the debris strewn ground, Russel letting out a long shout of curses and baffled questions as the strange creature buzzed dangerously close to their ducked down heads, a loud hissing and inhuman shrieking noise filling the air as it narrowly missed them and careened out of control momentarily. Above them a light sprinkling of blue-black dust was left behind, and upon inhaling both men began coughing harshly, the seemingly innocent powder causing the inside of their lungs to burn.

"'at thing almos' took yer 'ead off, Russ!" Murdoc managed to choke out between fits of hacking. Russel winced and looked up, watching as the strange, two headed moth-like being spun in the air and regained its bearings, preparing for another swing at the men. Russel struggled for enough breath to warn Murdoc that the thing was returning, but was unable to do so as the remaining dust seemed to hover around them, causing the particles to be inhaled every time one of the breathed.

The moth-thing began its rapid decent towards the helpless band mates just as a bellowing cry filled the still air.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU! GET BACK HERE!"

Out of the fog another, humanoid figure emerged from the shroud, running full tilt in Russel and Murdoc's direction. Their heads jerked in the direction of the noise and saw the person, details becoming clearer as he rapidly approached. Even the strange moth creature had stopped in mid air to stare, its two bizarre heads tilted to the side as if uncertain of what this human was doing.

The man came closer, his feet pounding the asphalt with loud, echoing sounds. In his fist he clutched a long metal pole about five feet long, and right as he neared the two huddled figures on the ground he slammed the flattest end in to the ground, hurtling himself in to the air. With a war-cry like yell he swung the pipe, connecting with the creature before it had a chance to react. It knocked in to the first head with a sickening crunch, sending it careening in to the wall of the nearby building. The man landed on one knee and hand, the pipe still clutched in his fist. An arrogant smirk was worn upon his lips, a triumphant air about him.

"Whoa…" Russel muttered, having watched the whole scene as his coughing subsided. Both he and Murdoc stared dumbfounded, shocked at the fact that another living being was still around in the emptied out town. Slowly the man rose to his feet, dusting off his oversized drab olive colored jacket and baggy black pants with his hands, humming to himself as if he had not a care in the world.

Murdoc and Russel traded concerned looks and slowly detangled themselves from the ground and their own limbs, Russel clearing his throat to call the attention of the stranger to them. The man gave a twitch of his shoulders and spun on his heel, his head canting to the side at the duo standing before him. Brushing a shock

"So…who the hell are you and why the hell aren't you armed? In case you haven't notice we're in the middle of a goddamn freak circus..."

--

"2D?"

"Hm?" 2D muttered, looking up from the desk as he sorted through the remaining items, attempting, with Noodle's help, to divvy up the food supplies that the other two had brought out. Kara was checking over the Maglites and a few other non-food things, making sure that what they had worked and would stay working, although at that moment her gaze was on the blue haired singer rather than the flashlight in her hand.

"I uh...well I don't mean to be rude but curiosity is going to get the better of me. What's with your eyes? I mean...well..." she trailed off, a light pink tint coming to her cheeks as she quickly averted her attention back to the object still clutched between her fingers. She fiddled with the button, watching the flash feature come on and blink a cone of pale yellow light across the floor.

"Me eyes?" 2D echoed, blinking a few times as he tried to comprehend what the redhead was getting at, "Oh! Dat. Yeah. I 'ad an acci'ent when I wus younger. Couple, actually. Fractured my eyes and made them dial...di...erm..." stumbling over the word, 2D looked down at Noodle with a vaguely pleading expression. The younger girl gave a small smile and looked up at Kara.

"2D-san fractured his pupils, and made them dilate permanently," she explained with a nod, "It was Murdoc-san's fault, from what I was told. Two car accidents, separate times. Each time he was injured badly and hit his head on something. I believe the second time was the curb of a sidewalk."

"...and you can still see after all that?" Kara asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she was clearly suprised at this revalation. She carefully put the flashlight in a bag and picked up a large box of matches that had been placed in with everything else.

"Well...yeah! Bu' I ge' these migraines, see. Dat's the only side effect. I even ge' me vision tested sumtimes an' the eye doctor person says me sigh' is fine. Though...he makes a weird face when he says i'."

"I can imagine why!" Kara exclaimed, giving him a crooked grin.

"2D-san! Show her the face!" Noodle chimed in, tugging on his shirt to get his attention. 2D let out a half snort-half chuckle and screwed up his face in to something that was clearly mocking confusion and disgust. Kara couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous he looked, and at that moment the laughter felt more liberating than it ever had. It reminded her that she, and the others, were still alive even in their bleak situation.

"That's horrid! He really looks like that?"

"Yeah! Me doc kinda does the same thing, an-"

"SHH!" Noodle suddenly hissed, her hand tightening on 2D's arm so hard that her knuckles turned white. Her deep eyes went wide behind her purplish fringe and she stared over her shoulder at the nearby window.

"Noodle?" Kara questioned, setting down the box of matches and moving closer to the frightened girl. Noodle held her other hand up, causing Kara to stop moving only a few inches from her. Noodle's finger then moved to her lips, instructing the other two to listen.

Somewhere near by, something very loud was buzzing.

--

"...and after we go' ou', Russ suggested findin' weapons,"

"But the place where we crashed had crap. We found a riot baton and some Maglites and that was about it," Russel and Murdoc finished explaining to the young man. Before they'd begun their tale, the man had introduced himself as Samael McLean, a resident of Portland who'd only moved to the large city from the east coast only a few months prior. The two had also gone to the trouble of introducing themselves and explaining that they were only part of a five person group that had come off of the train wreckage.

Sam had been leaning against the hood of a small blue Geo Neon that had stopped a few feet before the chasm, listening to their story intently. His arms crossed over his chest, metal pole laid across his lap and his legs sticking out in front of him, he gave simple nods and grunts in response to the entire story until Russel finished.

"What were you expecting to find out here? After you left, that is," Sam asked, picking at a bit of grey substance that had fallen on to his jacket.

"People, weapons, a way ou'," Murdoc answered, scuffing the tip of his boot against a few scattered pieces of broken road at his feet. His hands were shoved in to his pockets again, his whole demeanor strangely thoughtful and distant, not like his usual self by any stretch of the imagination. Then again, Russel didn't quite feel himself either. He figured it was some sort of belated shock for both of them, most of it stemming from what had just happened with the strange creature and the newcomer.

"Weapons, yes. I can lead you to some. Way out? Not likely, at least I haven't found anything. This," Sam said, indicating the broken, shattered road with a twitch of his first finger, "is the second area I've found like this, but I haven't gotten very far. There may be a chance. As for people? Sorry, but you're the only living, non freakazoid things I've found since everything went to hell."

"...well inni' tha' just bloody lovely," Murdoc muttered, his foot going still as he stopped fidgeting, his oddly colored eyes rising to look at Sam with a disgruntled expression. Russel ran a hand over the back of his neck, making a few noises of irritation at their worsening predicament.

"Well, we can't just sit around doin' jack crap about it. If anything we've gotta keep movin', get the hell away from things like-"

His words caught in his throat, a queer, sick sensation flushing down from his face to his stomach as his hand gestured to the building and his eyes landed on the spot where the creature was, where the creature should have been. Instead all that greeted his vision was a dark spot on the sidewalk where it had eventually fallen after being whacked by Sam's pole, rather than the heaped up form of the injured moth thing.

Both Sam and Murdoc's heads twitched in the direction of Russel's hand, expressions going curious with hints of worry lining both their mouths.

"...no way. I hit that thing, it should have stayed down," Sam muttered, pushing himself off the car in to a completely standing position.

"If th' thin's no' dere, den where-"

Somewhere in the fog, through the resounding silence, glass shattered. All heads turned towards the sound just as a shrill, blood curdling scream filled the air, warning of danger and pleading for help all in one breath...


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The first indication that something was horribly wrong was the fact that Noodle had stopped the two of them from speaking, and that an unnatural buzzing noise had filled what was once still, disturbing silence. That in itself was even more unnerving than the quiet.

The second indication was the fact that Kara screamed. It wasn't a shriek of surprise, it was a cry of absolute terror, and coming from some one who'd managed to keep her freak-out level to a little bit of incoherent muttering at one point, that was enough to make the two Gorillaz realize that things were about get ugly.

The third thing that essentially proved that not only was things getting ugly, they were going right back to Hell in a hand basket being carried by the nastiest looking thing that any of them had ever laid eyes on.

Somewhere between then and the glass window shattering, 2D decided that he was having a very, very bad day.

Seconds after Kara screamed and drew Noodle and 2D's attention towards the large bay window it exploded inward, the giant moth creature slamming in to it hard enough to send huge chunks of glass spraying all over the place. Grabbing both girls by the shoulders just in time, 2D managed to shove them both behind the desk to a relatively safe place, his back taking most of the rain of glass as he attempted to protect them. He felt stinging across the back of his neck and a few spots just below the hem of the two shirts he was wearing, tiny shards lacing lacerations across his skin.

Hissing in pain as the sensation of several thin rivulets of blood went down his neck, he turned to see the buzzing, eight legged moth thing hovering in the air near where the MAX still lay like a broken behemoth. The creature looked to 2D, its twin heads canting to the side as the mandibles opened and let out a piercing shriek the echoed in the small space. Everyone let out a cry, Kara and Noodle both covering their ears and ducking their heads down low as they hid behind the desk. 2D, however, flinched and only put one hand over one ear, the other groping behind him for the riot baton that had been left by Murdoc. Noodle, having seen the previous creature, saw the police weapon as useless and had simply laid on the desk while they were packing. Though the noise was horrid and intolerable, 2D's pounding migraine was all ready at its worst and the pain was enough to keep his mind off the fact that his eardrums very well may have been bleeding at that point.

His fingers finally wrapping around the handle of the riot baton, he snagged it and put himself in a defensive stance when the creature stopped its high frequency cry. It eyed 2D like a large human staring at its next large meal, which only caused it to earn a very irritated scowl from the blue haired man.

"Yer gonna 'ave ta work fer it, ugly!" 2D taunted, twirling the baton in his hand.

"2D-san! Don't!" Noodles cried out at hearing his words, jumping up to try and stop him by sliding over the desk. Kara, still looking horribly pale and frightened, let out a yelp and snagged Noodle by her thin waist, dragging the flailing girl back down, "NO NO NO NO!" the Asian screamed, "HE'LL DIE!"

"SO WILL YOU!" Kara rebutted, clinging to Noodle like a child to a favorite teddy bear. She knew this knowledge as well as Noodle did, but she also recognized that 2D was trying to keep them safe. Though that familiar ill feeling added to her already rapidly beating heart and frightened state of mind, she realized there was very little either of them could do.

In the back of 2D's mind something registered that the girls were screaming about him, but he was so preoccupied on keeping the thing from attacking them that he'd momentarily thrown away all thoughts of his own morality. The moth creature let out one last, short cry before barreling down on 2D and a frightening rate. The man barely had a chance to react, throwing his arm out in an attempt to swing for the thing's head. Though he connected, it wasn't with the baton. Instead, he over-shot his mark by a good half foot, his arm instead thwacking in to the side of the thing's head and landing in a sticky mass of what could only be described as black hued blood from a wound a few inches up. The creature paused as if confused and before 2D even had a chance to mutter 'oh shit' in realization of his own foolhardy move, a painfully sharp mandible was clamped around his wrist, drawing out his own blood without even trying.

2D screamed in agony as the moth's mouth shredded his skin and streams of crimson dripped on to the carpet, his fingers going slack and letting the baton fall to the ground. The other head snagged his shirt with the speed of striking snake and the next thing the poor man knew he was hurling through the air, the moth having tossed him like a limp cloth against the nearby wall. Unfortunately he didn't hit with the same force, instead slamming in to it hard enough to completely knock the wind out of him.

Stunned and in considerably much more pain than he was before, 2D slid to the floor in a heap, vaguely aware of the sound of the girls calling for him in panicked voices. A shadow descended upon him, and his bleary gaze turned upwards to see through double vision the form of the moth thing now hovering just a few feet in front of him. His body felt like lead, and though he knew he would die if he continued to sit there, helpless and unmoving, he couldn't will his body to respond. Every joint felt like it was on fire, and his torn up arm was a mass of stinging pain. His chest heaved as he made a wheezing noise, his lungs trying to redraw breath through his incapacitated state.

_'m gonna die 'ere…_

"2D-SAN! 2D-SAN! WAKE UP! MOVE! _KUDASAI!_ 2D-SAN!"

"Noods…s-sorry…"

"2D!" Kara shrieked even as she held the struggling Noodle back.

2D closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable end to come, feeling his heart wrench at Noodle's insanely panicked screaming and pleading and Kara's desperate yelling. What he received instead of the crushing pain of a terrible death was the sound of some one who wasn't Murdoc bellowing obscenities and a splash of something warm and sticky wet splattering all over his face as the creature let out a pained shriek. Grunting in bewilderment he looked up just in time to see the moth creature, a metal pole sticking out of its midsection, give a spastic twitch and a weak, gurgling cry before falling to the floor, making a nasty squishing noise as it hit the floor. Blinking in confusion, 2D finally forced his lungs to take in a deep breath and shake his body back to something resembling normalcy.

Russel's round, dark face came in to view before him, the man's large eyebrows raised high as he gently grasped 2D's shoulder and gave it a very light and careful tug.

"D! D, man, say sum'in!"

"…Russ?" 2D croaked, his voice just rising above a hoarse, choked whisper.

"Jesus, man, that thing drug you to hell an' back!" Russel exclaimed, lifting 2D in to a standing position and letting the wary, pale young man lean against him for support. Through the pounding haze that seemed to be snaking through his entire body, hitting every nerve like tiny little jack hammers on speed, 2D could see Murdoc coming in through the broken window, stepping around another man that 2D didn't recognize in a green army jacket and black cargo jeans.

Nervously Noodle popped her head out from the desk, looking around for only a second before deciding to literally fly over the top of it and come barreling in to 2D, causing him to give a delayed cry of surprise after nearly toppling over. Luckily Russel still had a hold of him, worried that in 2D's pained and beaten state that he wasn't in any condition to try remaining upright on his own.

Noodle buried her face in to his shirt, speaking in rapid Japanese and broken English as she cried, her hot tears soaking through the cotton of his clothes and making a damp spot where she was. 2D let out a trembling sigh and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, grateful to feel her solid and very real form after being so certain that he was going to cease to be among the living.

"'sokay now, Noods..." he muttered to her softly, "'sokay…"

"Come on, D, let's get dat arm wrapped up," Russel finally said, guiding the wobbly singer over to an unbroken lobby seat, instructing Noodle to detach herself and go locate the nearest first aid kit.

"'ey, bird, you al'righ' back der?" Murdoc asked, looking over the back of the table at the still hunched up Kara who'd refused to move from the desk even after releasing Noodle and realizing that, some how, they'd all been saved just in the nick of time. Her arms were over her head, the too big jacket sleeves covering her hands and making her look rather comical in her curled up state.

"Fine," she responded in a squeaky voice, the high tone belying her true feelings, "Don't mind me. I'm just coming to grips with the fact that a giant moth almost killed 2D. No big deal. None at all. This is me, dealing with things just _wonderfully_. By the way, the name is _Kara_, not 'bird', and if you ever call me that again you'll find out just how heavy my messenger bag is."

Murdoc recoiled from the desk as though a snake had mysteriously appeared on its surface, snarling bitterly at the red head. Despite the fact that her tone of voice had managed to come off as less than threatening due to the fact that her pitch kept wavering with her anxiety, the point had come through just fine, leaving Murdoc feeling a little more than miffed that he'd gotten told off yet again.

Before he had a chance to respond to her, though, Sam, who'd been standing not more than three feet away, surveying the damage of the office, was suddenly next to him, shoving the older man out of the way and leaning over the desk. Crying out, Murdoc regained his balance by grabbing on to the wall next to the window, growling at them both as his level of frustration rose.

"Kara!"

"…Sam?" Kara responded uncertainly, slowly moving her arms down and tilting her head back to look at the man as if she'd seen a ghost. A second later her face broke in to an ear to ear grin and she let out a relieved, stuttered laugh, vaulting herself up and over the desk to tackle Sam in a hug as the bottled up tears she'd been holding in came streaming down her cheeks full force

"Oh gods, Sam I thought you were gone with the rest of the town! I thought I'd lost everyone! I'm so happy to see you!" she cried out, holding on to him like he was the last port in the storm.

"Holy shit, Kara," Sam muttered, burying his face in her messy hair, taking in her scent and feel, finding it hard to believe that she was real, "When I saw the MAX I thought you were dead. I didn't know which car you'd gotten on,"

"I was in the back where I usually sit. I probably would have died if 2D and the others hadn't been there," she admitted, pulling back to brush some tears from her eyes, her pale cheeks now smudged with red blotches.

Murdoc watched the sickening reunion for about three second before giving a disgusted grunt and taking out a cigarette, lighting the end and leaning against the wall as he waited for some one to acknowledge that he was still there. At Kara's comment, he glanced up from the smattering of glass that he was gazing at on the ground and shrugged nonchalantly, noticing that she was mostly talking in his direction since Russel and Noodle were still busy trying to keep 2D from passing out while they wrapped his arm.

"Hn," he snorted, letting a swirl of semi-opaque smoke swirl up from his lips and across his face, "Brain ache saved you. 's no' like I di' 'nything. So you know each other den?"

Kara rolled her eyes at his gruffness and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, we do. We go to school together at the local coll-"

"Kara, shh!" Sam hissed, his eyes suddenly trained on the area beyond the broken window and the haze of grayness beyond. His eyes had swiftly turned cold and intense, his lips pulled tight and his expression dire. Kara and Murdoc turned their stare in the same direction, looking and listening for whatever it was that had Sam so entranced.

"Murdoc," Sam said, his demeanor growing serious and a hidden hint of worry lacing through the name. This had the older man's attention from the get go. Though normally untrusting of people, especially of strangers, something about Sam's whole behavior had clued Murdoc in on the fact that he knew what he was doing, and therefore knew how to get everyone else through what was essentially a live or die situation.

"Yeah?"

"Get all the supplies you can grab and get outside as soon as you've got them. I'll meet you out there. You two!" Sam called out, getting Russel and Noodle's attention, "Same thing, and don't argue," he said, halting Noodle in mid protest, "just do it. Kara?"

"…yeah, Sam?" Kara replied nervously, watching as Murdoc, Russel and Noodle all went to the task that they had just been instructed with.

"Can you help the blue guy walk?"

"2D? Uh…yeah, I suppose so."

"Good," Sam said, taking the messenger bag that she still had slung over her shoulder off of her and putting over his own head, "Do it. Go outside and wait for us. Don't question it, okay? Just trust me like you always have."

Kara hesitated; staring in to Sam's faded gray eyes before hugging him one last time and rushing over to where 2D was still sitting, hunched in a wary position in the chair. When she approached he slowly raised his head, looking at her through bleary eyes. A thin sheen of sweat had broken out on his brow, sticking strands of blue to his grayish toned skin.

"…Kara? Wus goin' on?"

"We gotta go, 2D," the younger girl said, slipping an arm around his back and lifting him out of the chair. Though noticeably thin, she had expected at least some sort of weight to be about him and was surprised to find that she had barely any difficulty even with most of his body leaning against her. She could feel him trembling through his shirt, no doubt a result of both the attack and the injury, "You gonna be okay?"

"…I 'unno," he admitted softly, shaking his head slowly. Kara frowned and began moving with him, taking care not to go too fast. Around them the others were gathering up the items that hadn't gotten in to backpacks and duffel bags yet, hurrying as fast as they could manage. Kara gave one last glance to Sam, who was assisting Noodle with her task, and stepped through the broken bay window, going a few feet up the sidewalk that bordered the building and pausing on the corner where the ripped open end of the MAX lay to their right. Kara gave an instinctive shiver as her eyes wandered over the gray, fog choked city, the lightly falling flakes of undetermined material, the down right creepy and disturbing emptiness of it all. It wasn't chilly by any means, but the scene that lay before her sent ice in to the marrow of her bone and she wanted nothing more than to go home, take a blanket and curl up on her warm bed until it all passed.

_You don't even know if your home exists anymore, Kara…_

"Nigh'mare," 2D muttered quietly, catching her attention. His onyx gaze was trained on where the MAX tracks were, vaguely hidden beneath the mist, and it was obvious that he was recalling the horrible crash that seemed, in Kara's mind, to be days ago, "Dis whole fing…'s like a nigh'mare…"

"Yeah, it is. …and I just wanna wake up," Kara agreed, giving a strained sigh as a flake of gray substance fell on her nose. Blinking, she reached up and brushed the substance off, leaving a streak of black across the bridge of her nose just beneath her glasses. She stared at her fingers, rubbing the strange essence between her first two fingers and her thumb, "Ash," she muttered, looking to 2D.

"Sumfin's burnin'?"

"Guess so. I don't see any fire, though."

Shuffling drew their interest away from the covered cityscape and back to the window. One by one the rest of the group emerged, laden with stuffed bags and each holding on to currently powered off Maglites. Sam headed up the four of them, jogging up to Kara's side and halting next to her.

"He gonna live?" he asked, looking to the pallid, still shaking 2D with only a thin layer of concern showing on his features.

"We need to finish taking care of his arm. Otherwise there's not much else we can do for him aside from getting him to a hospital," Kara said, gesturing with a twitch of her head to the bandaged arm. Russel and Noodle had managed to wrap it with thick gauze several times over, but spots of pink were beginning to show on the top of the white material, showing that the deep wound was still bleeding. Sam gave a snort and began walking.

"Not an option right now," he said, his coarse tone causing Kara to flinch, "Come on, we need to get moving."

Kara sighed, gave an apologetic look to 2D, and began walking with him again. Silently the group progressed down the street, barely able to see more than a few feet in front of their own noses but able to keep one another's backs in view well enough to not get separated.

They approached the other side of the cross street that went through First, the very road that housed the two way MAX tracks that had started the whole downward spiral of their situation, Sam continuing on through without even glancing in either direction. He seemed to know the general location of where he wanted to head and wasn't about to deviate from his path. No one spoke; for fear that doing so might attract another horrible creature like the moth.

A few steps on to the other side of the street, a sudden, wailing siren tore through the silence, causing everyone to stop and Kara to suck in a sharp breath. The sound seemed to be coming from everywhere and no where all at once, as if the siren was part of the air itself.

"Shit," Sam muttered, turning around and waving his hand in the air frantically, "RUN! COME ON!"

They didn't need to be told twice. Murdoc and Noodle traded fearful looks and took off down the road, catching up to Sam quickly as he, too, started pounding the pavement. The siren continued to screech through the air and the air seemed to turn a bitter cold in just seconds.

Kara and 2D tried to move as fast as they could, but 2D was still awkward on his feet, his fatigue and soreness dragging them both down. Russel came up behind them and stopped Kara, grabbing 2D's good arm and carefully lifting the man up and slinging him over his large back before either of them could protest.

"Go," he ordered her as she stared at him in confusion and fright. She looked as if she would loose her lunch any second and it was clear her heart was pounding against her chest anxiously.

"But-"

"I can carry him. GO!" Russel snapped, giving the girl's shoulder a shove to get her moving. Kara stumbled but quickly regained her balance and took off down the street, looking over her shoulder repeatedly to make sure that they were following.

Though slower than the rest of the, Russel managed to make good time even with 2D hanging on his back. 2D dared a glance over his own shoulder and nearly choked when he saw the road far behind them being swallowed in absolute, inky darkness that was literally crawling over the streets and buildings.

"SHI'! RUSS, MOVE!" he screamed, his voice going high in panic.

"Goin' as fast as I can!" Russel huffed as he barreled down the road, following the path of the group ahead of him. He didn't dare look, the tone of 2D's voice telling him well enough that there was clearly something to fear back there.

Sam rounded the corner on to Second Street, skidding to a halt just at the corner for a moment before taking off again. Murdoc pulled up next to him, his gaze just barely catching the darkness that was advancing on them steadily from where the MAX tracks once were.

"Sweet Satan…" he hissed, forcing himself to pick up speed. Looking around frantically, Sam jerked a hand up at a fog shrouded sign that hung in front of an old brick building a few feet above them.

"There!" he cried, slowing down and allowing Murdoc to pass him as he instructed the older man to get the door open. He hung back, urging Noodle and Kara to catch up with Murdoc. Once Russel reached him, 2D still staring back at the darkness that was following, Sam started running again, keeping with them rather than taking the lead once more.

Murdoc pulled the door of the grungy mini mart open, some how not surprised to find that the door was unlocked and that the metal security bars were still pushed back behind the windows. He ushered the girls inside after they reached it, waiting on Sam, Russel and 2D. Once they were all inside he yanked the door closed and threw the switch lock in to place despite the fact that he thought it would do very little against whatever it was that was following them.

Outside the faded, hazy light that had been their source of illumination slowly slipped in to darkness, causing the dusty dimness of the store to lose what little brightness it had. The siren cut off suddenly, leaving the store in silence save for the huffing and heavy breathing of the six that occupied it.

As the final bit of darkness enveloped the store and everything surrounding it, Murdoc managed to wrap his fingers around the Maglite he'd shoved in to his pocket so long ago and flick it on, letting the cone of light land on everyone in a silent head count. 2D, though still shaky, flinched at the light and slid off Russel's back, landing on his feet and using the larger man as a leaning post. Save for the beam cutting through it, the darkness seemed all encompassing, but whatever it had brought along with it seemed to stay outside the confines of the store.

Murdoc let the light waft over their surroundings, seeing short shelves stocked with various items, industrial fridges holding food stuffs, and a counter with a grimy looking cash register and a plastic case housing cigarette packs and cartons. The whole place had a dirty, barely maintained feeling about it, indicating that whoever had run it before the city's vanishing hadn't cared too much for quality or sanitation. Despite that it was a refuge in a very disturbing kind of storm, and they were all grateful for it. One could only imagine what would have occurred had they stayed in the broken police office.

Kara let out a heavy sigh that was as sharp as a gun shot in the silence and slid down against a nearby wall, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them close. Noodle stared at her for a moment before sitting next to her, resting her messy haired head against the older girl's shoulder. Kara blinked and looked at her in surprise, but gave a tired smile after and put one of her arms around Noodle's thin shoulders, glad for the strange form of comfort she was providing.

Murdoc brought the flashlight to Sam's general location, looking at the gray eyed man with a look of wary distain.

"So…now wut?"

Sam sighed, taking off his hat and scratching at his unkempt blonde hair and causing it to stick up more than it already was. His head canted to the side, gaze going towards the window and the seemingly infinite darkness beyond. As his eyes slowly adjusted he could make out what looked like rust lining the streets and buildings outside, and a soft hiss started up outside, like the sound of heavy, unrelenting rain coming down without warning.

"What else can we do? We wait."


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Ow!"

"Well, hold the hell still, D!"

"I' hurts!"

"…you were mauled," Russel said, expression deadpanned as he stared up at 2D from the young man's torn up arm to which he was currently tending, "Of course its going ta hurt. However, you're going to bleed ta death if I don' DO sum'in about it, so quit complainin' and let me do this."

2D whined, shifting on the stool that he'd been instructed to sit on behind the register and counter of the store. After realizing that the thick darkness outside wasn't going to dissipate any time soon, the group had resigned themselves to sticking around the mini mart for a while, which gave Russel ample time to keep 2D's arm from getting in any worse condition that it was already in. The first aid kit sitting near by, the African American continued to work on applying proper pressure to the still bleeding parts of the wound and gauzing the other ones.

Giving a heavy sigh at Russel's insistence of silence, 2D turned his head and made his dark eyes focus on one of the more distant walls of the building, his line of sight traveling just past Sam's head. The man was standing near one of the shelves, examining the dust covered lines of food and goods that lay before him, though he didn't seem interested in them specifically. His mind was elsewhere, but then again so was everyone else's. Even Murdoc was refraining from speaking or making his usual smart assed quips as he set against one of the windows near the locked door, his arms crossed and his two colored eyes staring blankly at the floor.

Kara and Noodle were down further than everyone else, in a section of the store that was smaller than the rest and seemed to lead to a back room of some kind. Kara was flipping idly through magazines that bore recent dates but were withered and worn as if they were decades old. Noodle seemed to just be staring at a cold fridge that was currently powered down, her expression frighteningly similar to Murdoc's.

Blinking a few times in slow succession, 2D slowly turned his head up towards the grimy window that was positioned off to the side of the cigarette case that was hung from the ceiling. His head tilted to the side, catching Russel's attention as his eyebrow lifted on his forehead.

"Sum'in wrong?"

"…you feel…'nyfing weird, Russ?" he asked, his voice much softer than usual. Russel sat back a bit, his hand still carefully around 2D's wrist as he stared in confusion at his younger bandmate.

"…no, I don't."

"Define weird," Sam suddenly spoke up, his head lifting to gaze at 2D directly. Making a face, 2D could only shrug after a long moment of silence.

"Can',"

"Can't?"

2D shook his head slowly, finally giving up and actually looking at Sam despite the fact that he knew the man's skeptical gaze would just make him feel more uncomfortable about even bringing up the strange feeling that had settled in his stomach.

"No. Can'. I's like…I'unno. Sum'fing bizarre. I's no' like I can describe i',"

"Huh," Sam grunted, beginning to turn back to the shelving and whatever it was that he seemed preoccupied with before.

Before he could, though, the rising sound of someone outside of the store screaming could just barely be heard, almost as if the darkness was acting as a muffler against it. In the relative quiet of the store, though, everyone heard it, and all heads turned towards the window that Murdoc was sitting at. Even Kara and Noodle broke away from their area to come look.

Murdoc sat up, looking over his shoulder with a confused yet still mildly curious expression. Slowly, as the sound drew nearer, he rose and turned one knee on the crate that he'd been sitting on. He pressed his hands to the cold window, trying to see past the inky blackness outside.

"Wut the bloody hell is 'at?" he muttered, though he didn't expect to receive a response. It wasn't like anyone else knew, after all.

He received his answer in the form of a ragged, disheveled looking man tearing by the window at breakneck speeds out on the sidewalk. Murdoc managed to catch the man glancing over his shoulder and the look of absolute terror on his features. Through the window he could hear the words 'help me' and 'oh god, its going to kill me!', and the pitch of the man's voice was high, shrill in his panic.

Both eyebrows arched high on his head as he turned his head to look at the rest of the group, each of them returning his gaze in pallid worry and anxiety. Eventually, as the sound of the man's horrid screaming faded, Murdoc let himself stare out the window once more only to be met by darkness.  
He gazed into the shadowed ink that was once a busy Portland street, full well knowing that something was out there. His gaze drifted to the right, toward the source of the screaming man's flight.  
There, he found himself face to face, if one could call it that, with something obscene. All he could make out in a moment of blinding panic seemed to be a single, blood-toned eye and flesh as pallid as snow. Long, lanky streams of black hair dangled in the face that seemed to dissolve out of the darkness, while filth-encrusted bandages covered what must have once been an eye.  
The creature, if that is what it was, melted back into the dark as Murdoc tumbled backwards off of his roost, yelping in what the others could only assume was shock. Shock, rather than what it truly was: absolute terror.

"WUT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL!" he proceeded to shriek after landing, caring more about the fact that his heart was actively pounding in his chest than the fact that his tail bone was now suffering from the impact. Everyone stared at him but it seemed that no one was willing to put forth the question of what, exactly, he'd seen. For Kara and Sam, it was more out of confusion and their own level of worry. For the three remaining Gorillaz, it was due to the fact that they knew if it had scared Murdoc, it had to be bad.

Slowly Murdoc managed to lift himself off the floor and dust his pants off with his hands, which just so happened to be trembling slightly, though not enough to be seen by anyone outside of a foot radius to him. Noodle approached from the side as Kara moved to where Sam stood, her arms wrapped around herself and her torn Dickies jacket hanging awkwardly on her frame.

"You saw something, didn't you Murdoc-san?" Noodle asked, her voice more demanding than what one would have expected coming from her. Murdoc halted his hands above his pockets as he turned his mismatched eyes towards the Asian girl.

"'course I di'. Why else would I make such a fuss?"

"HAH!" Noodle suddenly cried out, placing a hand on her hip and pointing her first finger at him, damn near getting in to his face. Murdoc's eyes went wide for a few seconds until he dawned on him that he was about to get lectured once more, "You see now! Now do you believe me! There really are monsters!" she started in, keeping her voice down low so as not to bother everyone else. Regardless, Sam and Kara could hear just fine, as they were on the other side of the shelf, and 2D and Russel, though unable to make out the words, could tell that Murdoc was just thrown in to a verbal lashing.

"Wut do yeh fink they're talkin' 'bout, Russ?"

"I have no idea, D…"

"Oh Jesus," Murdoc groaned, rolling his eyes and snatching his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He shoved one in his mouth, only to have Noodle slap his arm.

"Don't you dare light that while I'm talking to you!" she snapped angrily, clearly frustrated enough that she was not only ordering him around, she was steadily raising her voice towards him. Murdoc grunted again and crossed his arms over his chest instead, letting the smoke dangle between his lips as his teeth grinded, waiting for her to finish and hoping that his resolve would hold out long enough that he wouldn't start yelling back.

"Fine, talk,"

"You didn't believe me,"

"I didn'," he admitted, his tone clearly holding no qualms about it.

"_How!_ How could you not believe me, after everything that happened? After what happened to the train?"

"I though' i' was a bloody car, Noods," he hissed, his teeth gritting together tighter. Every time she asked a direct question that she expected him to answer his ability to hold back from snapping at the girl became harder to control.

"_A CAR! AFTER EVERYTHING THAT WE SEE AT KONG!" _Gone was the soft toned voice of the normally calm and composed Japanese girl. In its place a full on shriek of utter contempt for the man had simply erupted from her, causing everyone to flinch, either in surprise or worry that her yelling might bring something's attention to the store. Her voice echoed in the mostly empty building as her hands flailed in the air, and Murdoc finally felt that tiny bit of self control snap in to tiny shards. Turning on her, he let the cigarette fall from his lips as he began yelling back.

"Don' fucking ask me, Noodle! I dun' know crap 'bout wut's goin' on, jus' tha' we're in a whole FUCK LOAD of trouble, an' yer yellin' is only makin' thing's WORSE! I dun' know 'ow we go' 'ere, I dun' know wut's goin' on, and I have NO. FUCKING. CLUE. 'bout wut the hell I jus' saw or wut the hell caused all tha' shit outside!" he bellowed back, his voice literally filling the store as he gestured to the window with a gnarled, pointed finger.

Silence, save for his own slightly labored breathing, descended just as quickly as it had left as Noodle could only stare at Murdoc. Rather than look at him with hurt and surprise at the fact that he had actually, for the first time in the five years they'd known one another, yelled at her, she only glared from beneath her mussed bangs, her cheeks flushed pink from her own rise of emotion.

Kara and Sam slowly peered around the corner of the shelving unit, their eyes wide and expressions full on mystified. 2D and Russel simply stared from their place behind the counter, jaws dropped as they half expected Noodle to start tearing in to Murdoc physically rather than the way she had been.

Before anyone could say anything, or even move between the two to prevent a physical fight, Noodle hurled a full, unopened pack of cigarettes at his head, the corner catching him just above the eye. Murdoc cried out in momentary pain, stumbling backwards and holding a hand over his eye. She yelled something at him that wasn't in English and turned on her heel, storming off to the door of the back room that the store had just beyond the turned off refrigerator units.

Murdoc watched her go and went to say something that may or may not have been an apology, but realized what exactly she had thrown at him. Bending down, he snagged the pack off the ground and grinned, letting out a short, dry laugh.

"Apology accepted!"

Whatever Noodle screamed back at him, it couldn't have been nice…

Ten minutes had passed since the fight, and Russel finally finished bandaging 2D's arm. The rest of the group had gone back to their own silent musings, with Murdoc simply standing and staring at the window as if expecting to see something more than what he'd already witnessed. Noodle had remained in the backroom, seemingly content to just hide and stew over the fact that she had an unnaturally violent urge to hurt Murdoc with more than a pack of cigarettes.

"It's the best I can do, D," Russel was saying to the blue haired singer, his white eyes down as he examined the tightly gauzed arm, "Its still gonna bleed, man, but at least this will keep it from getting infected or something. Try to take it easy with it, though,"

"'kay," 2D muttered, sighing once more and slipping off the stool, turning to the cigarette case, finally noticing that the lock was broken on the glass door that covered it, explaining how Noodle had gotten a hold of the pack that she'd pitched at Murdoc's head. Tilting his head to the side, he slid the glass back and began examining the contents, looking to see if by some unlikely chance that his brand was in there. Russel simply let him, taking the time to clean up the first aid kit and put it back in the duffel bag that had been assigned to 2D.

Sam, finally bored with staring at random shelf items, made his way over to Murdoc's location, hands shoved in the pockets of his cargo pants. He stopped next to the greasy bassist, his own gray eyes on the window as well, though he, unlike the other man, wasn't expecting to see anything more until the hazy daylight returned once more.

"So…" he stared, his foot tapping against the crate in front of him, "What exactly did you see out there?"

Murdoc gave his trademark grunt and glanced over at the man, one large eyebrow twitching upwards. When it seemed like he wasn't going to ever respond, he let his gaze go back to the window as he took a long drag off the cigarette that was in between his lips, the smoke drifting lazily out and up towards the ceiling.

"Why should I tell you? After all, sometimes i's better no' t' know wuts ou' dere,"

"…because, if you don't tell me, I'll hi-"

"Hey, look!" Kara suddenly cut in, pointing up the street and beyond the store, something being seen from her angle that couldn't be caught at the position the boys were looking from, "I think its getting brighter out there."

Murdoc and Sam jerked their heads in the general direction of her gesture, seeing that the town was, indeed, growing brighter by the second, the hazy light moving more like a sunrise on a cloudy day than the creeping darkness that had come on before. Grumbling, Sam turned to Murdoc who was now giving a rather arrogant, snaggletooth grin to the man. Pointing a finger at his face, Sam went through a series of facial expressions and a few sputtered words before finally uttering 'Later' in a vaguely threatening tone and stalking off to speak to Kara.

The next few minutes were slightly chaotic as everyone scrambled to gather belongings, additional supplies, and anything else that they either needed or wanted from the store. As they worked towards preparing to leave once more, the light grew steadily brighter, making it easier to see than it had been with only a few candle-positioned two-cell A battery Maglites that they had set up around the shop for illumination. Even Noodle was coaxed in to emerging from the back room to fill her pack, though she refused to even so much as look at Murdoc, indicating that the pegging of the cigarette pack was obviously not an apology.

Soon the rusted, dark world that had taken over was completely gone, vanished as if it were little more than a memory, and the group was ready to leave, to find either explanation or escape, whichever came first.

They all stood before the door, Sam at the front with his fingers pressed against the deadbolt lock, a hint of hesitation in his otherwise calm features.

"What…where exactly are we going to go once we get out there?" Kara asked, finally voicing the one question that was on everyone's mind. Sam flipped the switch and swung the door open inward, the old fashioned announcer bell dinging loudly and causing an unnerving echo up and down the empty street.

"Maybe we can catch a bus out of this apeshit crazy hell hole," he finally answered, taking a step out on to the sidewalk.

"…the busses were all dead, man. No one was drivin' them," Russel pointed out, being the first one to follow him. Sam's lips twitched upwards in a smirk.

"I never said we were gonna let some one else drive…"


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Nervous and alert, the group of six dashed down the foggy roads of Old Town, past decrepit buildings and halted cars, far away from the MAX tracks where everything had started. Kara pointed out that the Tri-Met buses did most of their downtown route via Fifth and Sixth Street, which prompted them to head in that general direction. Though they could have just as easily taken any one of the stalled out cars in an attempt to escape the city, Sam made a valid argument with the things that they'd seen in their short time, there.

"If we're going to get out of here, lets do it with something that isn't going to get hurled by the first big creature that comes along looking for a new meal," he'd explained as they headed up the road past the store. Bags heavy with supplies, hearts heavy with a mix of fear and anxiety, they moved silently, their eyes and ears alert, intent on not being caught off guard again.

They dashed down Second Street to Davis, up Davis past Third and Fourth Streets and on to Fifth, finally turning left when they spotted the bus lane marked on the pavement of the street. A few feet up from the corner several of the behemoth buses were halted, facing in the direction of Burnside Street and the city center. They approached the first, which appeared to have come to a stop just before one of the large, front open glass shelters that lined what was known by locals as the "Bus Mall".

Kara darted ahead of the group, reaching the first bus and pressing her hands against the cold, smooth surface of the painted back, the solidity of the object a strange comfort to her emotion wrecked mind. Circling the vehicle, she quickly checked every possible point that she could she see for any visible damage that would hinder their possible escape. Once on the side walk again, facing the driver's side window, she looked to the rest of the wary troupe, a hopeful smile and nearly breathless laughter softly trickling out of her.

"We gotta get in somehow, but it looks intact. If we can get it started I think it can get us outta here!" she informed them, clasping her hands together in front of her chest as her heart raced. The sooner they were out of the nightmare they'd fallen in to, the better for her questionable stability.

"Hey, slow down, Kara," Sam chided, stepping up to her and placing a hand on her visibly trembling shoulder, "I know you wanna get home. Trust me, we all wanna, but don't put false hopes up so high,"

The smile twitched on her face and fell away a second later, her eyes closing and her lips pressing tightly together as she forced a long, deep breath out of her body.

"S-sorry…" she muttered, her entwined fingers clutching at her own palms in agitation. Tears appeared at the corners of her eyelids, prompting Sam to gently run a finger down her soft jaw to get her attention.

"Hey," he said softly, "Listen. Calm down. We're not going to sit back and do nothing, Kara,"

"But," she muttered thickly, opening her eyes and rubbing them over with the back of one of her hands. Behind her the other four stood, alert of their surroundings but curious to know what the two were talking about, "what if we don't get out?"

"Well, I'd like to think we've lived a full life!" Sam quipped after a moment of thoughtful silence, earning a rather disturbed look from Kara.

"SAM!" she shrieked, clutching her hands to her chest and recoiling slightly as he started to laugh nervously, scratching the back of his head with one eye half closed.

"Chill out, I was only joking. Come on, you can't tell me that you don't have faith in me anymore; after all we've already been through. There's not just me, either. We've got the other four, and yehknow, personally, that little Asian looks like she can kick even MY ass." Sam offered in a hushed tone, leaning forward and gesturing over his shoulder with a thumb. After receiving a strained giggle from Kara, he ruffled her hair affectionately and turned towards the bus, staring up the driver's side window.

"Ten bucks says there are no keys in there," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He turned his head, staring beyond Kara's head to the four still standing behind her, his gaze mostly landing on Russel, "Anyone know how to hot wire a bus?"

Five minutes later Noodle was standing on Sam's shoulder, her fingers working in to the small gap in the partially open driver's side window. Below, Russel was staring up at her with the same expression of complete bafflement he'd had since before she'd crawled up on the other man's shoulders.

"I still can't believe you know how to hot wire, Noodle girl…" he said, crossing his arms across his chest with a snort. Over at the bus shelter Kara and 2D had found a set of benches built in to the wall of the open air construction. 2D was leaning with his head against her shoulder as she pointed at one of the large signs inside, explaining to 2D how most of the Tri-Met transportation system worked while using the guide posted there as a visual.

"Its Murdoc's fault," Noodle stated, grunting with her tongue stuck between her teeth. She continued to wiggle her fingers, trying to reach the latch that seemed almost too far away for her grasp.

"'ow is i' my faul'?" Murdoc demanded from next to Russel, flicking the butt of his cigarette on to the ground from where he was leaning against the bus.

"Remember that show in Michigan?"

"Which one?"

"When the tour bus broke. And this is not working, Sam-san," Noodle finally relented, tugging her fingers out of the small space and moving them about to work the cramps out.

Sam sighed and looked up at her for a second before tapping her leg and instructing her to jump down. She obliged and Sam wandered off in to the mist for a minute, all eyes on him.

"Wut abou' when the bus broke?" Murdoc finally asked. Noodle turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest, her expression hinting that she was still rather miffed at him for the argument in the mini mart.

"You went on a beer run when I was sleeping in that awful vehicle of yours."

"You mean the Winnie?"

"Yes. You left me in the back. Actually I don't even think you were aware I was there. 2D-san and Russel-san were else where and you passed out, leaving me in a strange parking lot with no way to the hotel. You're lucky I have enough intelligence to figure out things with trial and error."

Murdoc stared at her with one eyebrow raised, scratching at the side of his face with his lips twisted in to a curious expression.

"So 'ats 'ow we go' back t' the hotel. Hey, wai' a second! You ho' wired MY Winnie!"

During the discussion Sam had returned, some sort of large, heavy object clutched in one hand. Unnoticed by Murdoc, who was now sputtering half formed obscenities at the realization that Noodle had messed with his precious Winnebago, Sam marched by them and hurled whatever object it was in to the air. A second later a sharp crack was heard, the window of the bus shattering with a resounding noise. Murdoc jumped and nearly stumbled on to the ground, crying out at the suddenness of Sam's action. Clearly he was still jumpy from the experience in the mini mart.

"Wut the bloody hell!"

"Concrete," Sam said matter-of-factly, gesturing for Noodle to return to where she'd been previously. Giving one last slightly arrogant smirk to the agitated Brit, she clamored back up on Sam's back and slipped in to the window easily, brushing bits of gummy safety glass away from where it fell before finding one of the manual levers to push the driver's seat back. Ducking under elongated, button laden dashboard, she inspected the inside before popping back up to look out the window.

"No keys. Give me ten," she informed the group before disappearing once more. Russel sighed, blinking his vacant white eyes a few times before rubbing a hand over his face and going to find a seat.

Nine minutes in to it, after several clicks, whines, and other various noises that sounded vaguely like it was trying to start, the bus suddenly roared to life, followed by a happy whoop from Noodle. Spewing grayish substance from the tail pipe and trembling under the force of its own engine, the bus went from a dormant titan to a beacon of hope in just seconds. Noodle's face reappeared in the window, a smudge of dirt just below the fringe of her bangs and a triumphant grin on her face. A soft, brief 'woosh' could be heard as the double doors opened up.

Giving various hollers of praise to Noodle, the group snatched up their belongings and moved themselves from their various places where they'd come to rest, bolting to the other side of the bus and one by one climbing aboard. Noodle slipped out from beneath the dashboard and wiggled her way off the raised platform and snagging one of the isle facing seats next to Kara. Once everyone was on, Sam dusted off the driver's seat to remove any more of the glass and sat down, strapping the safety belt on across his chest.

Positioning himself behind the wheel, he took some time to look over the dashboard, steering wheel, and anything else that would aid him in driving. Grateful that it appeared to be an automatic, unlike a school bus, he pressed the door control button and looked over his shoulder.

"This might be kinda bumpy. I'm not going to claim I know how to drive one of these things," he admitted, looking at each of them. Kara, 2D, and Noodle had taken the right side seats, while Russel and Murdoc each grabbed a forward facing seat, one right behind the other.

"Jus' take i' easy. I's no' like we're in _Speed_ 'ere or sum'in," Murdoc grumbled, draping his arms over the back of the seat in a lazy position.

"Just do what you have to, Sam," Kara encouraged, resisting the urge to just pitch something at Murdoc's head to silence him. Returning the half hearted smile, Sam faced the front window once more and clicked the windshield wipers on 'low', letting the large contraptions run over the glass and smear away the flakes of ash that had fallen on it like so much gray hued snow.

A disconcerting jerk, a high pitched grinding, and the bus finally managed to take off down the road, its engine roaring loudly as it moved from Davis Street up towards Couch Street, passing the worn down, grungy looking buildings of Old Town.

"Hey, Kara," Russel said, leaning against the small partition that separated the isle facing and the front facing seats to speak to the girl over the droning noise of the slowly moving bus. Kara blinked and tilted her head in Russel's direction.

"Yes Russel?"

"Jus' a question, but what're these windows made out of?" he asked, reaching over to tap the one closest to him, "Its not regular glass, right?"

Kara shook her head, a thoughtful look spreading on to her face.

"No. Tempered. Also known as safety glass, the same stuff the MAX uses. All Tri-Met vehicles are equipped with it, as far as I know," she answered, her head canting slightly, "Why do you ask?"

Russel remained quiet; his distant, white gaze was trained mostly in Sam's direction, and from what Kara could gather, on the window to the left of the man.

"How'd he break that window so easily then?" he eventually uttered, his voice suddenly soft and barely audible above the din of the rambling bus. Kara could hardly make out his words, and 2D and Noodle, who'd been half way listening in next to her, simply traded glances and shrugged, unable to decipher even a word of the quietly spoken sentence.

Kara's head turned as she, too, stared at Sam as he hunched over the oversized steering wheel and fought to keep control while driving. Just to the right of the seat platform a large chunk of sidewalk cement rattled and bounced with the vehicle's jerky movements. A frown creased her face and she nearly turned back to Russel to speak with him once more when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that caused her heart to fall to the floor.

"No…"

The word fell from her lips without her even realizing it, and though it felt whispered to her, it apparently carried enough force to bring everyone's eyes on her. She didn't register this fact and she rose from her seat, stumbling as the bus slowed via Sam's control. She neared the front of the bus and leaned past the small yellow painted railing that ran beneath the window, pressing her fingers to the cool tempered glass as she stared horrified at the same sight that had Sam bringing the bus to a halt.

"…fuck," he hissed between clenched teeth, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white and his hand started to tremble.

"Nooo…" Kara moaned, her head falling on the glass as she closed her eyes, willing the image before her to go away. Exchanging fearful looks, 2D and Noodle rose from their seats and moved to either side of her, each letting off their own noises of disappointment.

Burnside stretched long in either direction, vanishing after about sixty or so feet in to the thick fog that choked the city, but directly on the other side of the street the same chasm that Murdoc and Russel had encountered yawned before them, large, mocking and desolate. Piece of various short storied buildings teetered on its edge, the backs and sides ripped off completely, exposing their insides to the elements. Beyond the sharp drop, a void of gray nothingness existed, crushing hope just by being there.

Russel only needed to stand up for a second before flopping back down with a huff of disgust and irritation. He gestured to the windshield with a thumb, looking over his shoulder at Murdoc.

"Same as the bridge, man,"

"Yer shittin' me, Russ,"

Russel gave the man a somber look and slowly shook his head, causing Murdoc to groan and put his hands over his face, muttering another string of colorful words under his breath.

Sam reached over and gently touched Kara's arm, his fingers curling around the slick vinyl fabric of her jacket. She blinked and turned her head to face him, her cheek resting on the glass and causing a bit of mist to spread about the cool surface.

"How far up do these streets go?"

"Why?"

"Think there's a chance that something up that way," he asked, pointing to the right, "might lead out? Maybe a highway?"

"…how should I know?" Kara muttered, turning her face away to close her eyes once more. Had she not been so wrapped up in the fact that she she'd literally felt any and all aspirations for leaving the ghosted town alive she might have actually managed to sound snappish.

"'ey," 2D cut in, speaking for the first time in quite a while, "Don' give up now, Kara."

"Yes," Noodle agreed, nodding rapidly, "There has to be a way. You know this town better than anyone else here. Think!"

The bus echoed the disturbing hush outside, Kara unmoving and quiet as everyone kept their eyes on her waiting for some kind of answer. After what felt like an eternity she finally lifted her head and pointed a slightly shaking finger to the right.

"Stadium Freeway. Stadium Freeway goes to Highway Twenty Six," she answered, turning her baleful teal eyes on Sam, "Back up and take Couch down. Burnside doesn't connect with it,"

"Right," Sam nodded, turning back towards the steering wheel. Noodle slipped her hand in to Kara's free one and gave a squeeze, smiling hopefully up at her before leading the older girl reluctantly back to her seat. 2D followed, and once they were reseated Sam lifted his foot from the break and let the bus idle forward about a foot before shifting in to reverse, looking over his shoulder to slowly and carefully bring the giant machine around.

After some difficulty the bus was finally facing the other direction, allowing Sam to begin moving towards the next cross street, his back bent as he hunched over the oversized steering wheel and watched the road carefully through the haze of limited visibility. The bus lumbered along, creeping past the buildings that they'd already gone by once before. The interior was filled with a tense uncertain quiet that even Murdoc wasn't about to break as he, too, had his own concerns about their possible escape.

2D stared out window across from where he, Kara, and Noodle sat, his onyx eyes dull and disturbingly blank. Murdoc rested his head on the window behind him, his odd eyes locked on the blank white ceiling above. Russel was watching the dream like world pass by looking over his shoulder, while Kara and Noodle sat next to the spaced out blue haired man, the young Asain girl's fingers still intertwined with Kara's long, thin ones in a gesture of understanding towards her.

The street known as Couch came in to view, the dark brown Alphabet District street sign almost invisible in the gloom. Sam leaned back, preparing to turn the wheel and guide them around the intersection. The large front wheels went where Sam guided them, and the thickly covered side street became visible in the corner of the windshield.

He let out the breath that he had unknowingly pent up inside his lungs, forcing his fingers to loosen from the tight grip he'd been keeping on the cold obsidian toned plastic of the steering wheel. A soft mutter escaped his lips, a quiet mantra in attempt to calm his fried nerves. The bus aligned with the street, and for a brief moment he believed that they might actually make it out of the strange, seemingly possessed town.

That relief was painfully short lived. Just as he turned his head to present a reassuring smile to Kara, a flash of movement through the haze just before him instantly brought his attention back to the road. His eyes went wide as his line of sight landed on a hulking, clearly inhuman figure looming in the road about twenty feet ahead of the bus. He frowned, his foot shifting over to the break pedal.

2D's eyes snapped back in to focus, a sharp, unexpected pain tearing through the several lumps that littered his skull. He let out a cry, dropping his head in to his hands and pulling in the attention of everyone sitting near him.

"2D?" Kara asked, untangling her fingers from Noodle's hand as the two of them leaned in close to inspect the singer. Wincing, 2D managed to part two fingers and turn a dark eye up towards the red head.

"S-sometihng…" he hissed, his hands trembling and his skin fading in a sickly pale gray.

Toe touching the top of the pedal, Sam pressed down in an attempt to ease the bus to a slow, glided stop to find out what the hulking form was. He barely had registered the sounds of pain coming from behind him, and though he had a vague inclination that the large shadow ahead and 2D's instant migraine were connected, he was much more concerned about keeping the group safe. His plan was ended shortly when the giant rushed forward, zipping out of the mist like a truck injected with nitro.

Kara, who'd looked up and out the windshield at 2D's stammered words, saw the moving inhuman body and screamed out Sam's name as loud as she could. Everyone's heads turned, various cries, shouts, and mutters of surprise being uttered from their lips. Sam's eyes became hug and his hand fumbled and slipped for the seat belt release, the thing coming closer by the second. A long, serpentine build was visible, along with several long appendages that appeared to be arms with long, menacing blades attached. The thing moved like a locomotive off its rails, unheeding of obstacles, only wishing to rip through them like so many weak objects.

"Shit shit shit shit!" Sam cursed, his voice rising in pitch with every repeated obscenity. Finally a faint click was heard and the young man threw himself from the seat, "GET DOWN!"

Screaming shrilly, both girls threw their arms over their heads just as 2D came to his senses and out of his headache induced state long enough to snag them both by the backs of their shirts and push them down on the floor, Sam reaching them just in time to put his body protectively over Kara's while 2D defended Noodle. Murdoc and Russel, letting out their own lines of terrified language, dove beneath their seats.

In an instant sparks flew, metal grinded against metal, safety glass spider webbed and exploded inward, and the driver's side of the bus ceased to exist, becoming nothing more than a pile of scraps. Crocodile like teeth, claws of both bone and some sort of metal alloy, and other grotesque pieces of make up were all that could be seen in the flurry that followed the creature's tremendous rampage. Through it all, a droning shriek, almost like a power tool on its last leg, rang through the air, only adding to the horrible cacophony of terrifying noises.

Then silence.

Sam was the first to raise his head, causing a small rain of gummy glass to fall from his hair and back as he let his gaze survey the damage. Though the experience had been nothing short of horrifying, only the front section of the bus had been beaten inward, luckily leaving the side door slightly bent inwards but in such a way that it could be opened manually. As hard as he strained his ears to catch any off noises, he could find no sound indicating that the creature was still around. Beneath his fingers and through the thin fabric of her jacket and blue tee-shirt he could feel Kara's shoulders trembling in a near convulsive state. Next to them both 2D and Noodle were whimpering in fear, though 2D had managed to protect the smaller girl despite his obvious anxiety.

Rising, he carefully pulled Kara to her feet and motioned for 2D to do the same with the young guitarist. Stunned and shocked, Kara could barely stand on her own two feet, her hands still up around her ears as tears slid down her cheeks from frighteningly blank teal eyes. Forcing her to walk as carefully as he could manage, he ordered the other two to get up as he got to the door and worked to shove the swinging pieces back on the bent pole. A loud creak, a thunk and the door was pushed back, yawning in to an opening. 2D, Noodle attached firmly to his right arm, approached, eyeing the two of them with a shifty, disconcerted gaze.

"Hey Blue, can you take her?" Sam asked, his voice far quieter and less confident than the others were used to hearing. Clearly he was greatly concerned for Kara's mental condition, as it seemed to be failing more and more as the strange town continued to up the stakes on them, but he was well aware that he needed to keep his cool if he was going to get her out of there at all.

2D nodded and looked down to Noodle who reluctantly slid herself away from him and bobbed her head as well.

"We will both take her. Be careful, Sam-san," the little girl answered, assisting 2D as the red haired girl was passed down to them. Slinging an arm over his thin, bony shoulders, 2D was able to walk her down the short ramp and out on to the foggy street.

Sam looked up, motioning for Russel and Murdoc to hurry as they were grabbing the bags that had been dropped and left behind. Russel was first to the door as the older man was attempting to detach one of the backpacks from a broken pole that had snagged it.

"Muds, man, hurry yer ass up!" Russel demanded as he was nearly shoved out the door by a rather impatient Sam who was looking more bothered by each second that passed in relative silence.

"'ang on, 'ang on, we need dis bag!" Murdoc grunted, tugging and wrestling with the duffle bag until the strap finally gave in and tore away from the bag violently. Murdoc cried out, stumbling backwards but securing his balance on the small seat partition behind him.

"You done yet, green boy?" Sam snapped, voice thin with irritation. Murdoc went to retort, turning to shoot Sam a glare, when the entire bus gave a small shutter. Both heads jerked towards the remains of the left side windows. Kara let out a shrill scream while Noodle cried for both Murdoc and Sam at the top of her lungs.

Before either could do anything the faint shutter became an all out quake, something on the outside rocking the large vehicle like a child's die-cast toy. Stumbling around on unsure and unbalanced footing, Sam desperately grasped at the air, trying to find something to keep him from falling. Too late his fingers felt the cool, painted metal of the rail before he went tumbling end over end out of the door, landing on the rough asphalt with a yell of pain as his head connected and his vision swam black for a brief moment.

Before he could regain his composure he felt two thick hands grabbing his arms, lifting him on to his feet and hauling him away from the bus.

"Wait…" he muttered, voice slightly slurred as he tried to shake off the knock to the head.

"No wait, man!" he heard Russel's voice close to his ear. Blinking, he just barely caught the flash of movement that was the giant snake like creature closing in on the open doors. A terrible squeal of the thing's claws connecting with the metallic siding of the bus crashed through the air, Murdoc's screaming mixing in somewhere with the noise. The group could only stand and stare in horror as the thing dug its malformed appendages in to the contraption and lifted it in to the air, hurling it seconds later in to the nearby buildings.

"MURDOC-SAANNN!" Noodle shrieked, bolting towards the wrecked bus that now lay half on its side, much like the MAX had landed earlier. Sam broke away from Russel's grasp and quickly snatched the young girl by her arm, holding her light frame back with little difficulty.

"Whoa whoa, down girl," he chided, pulling her back and kneeling down, "Hold on just a minute before you go all _Braveheart _on us and get yourself killed."

"_D-demo,_ b-b-but…" Noodle stammered, looking frantically between the wreckage and Sam. On about the third or fourth turn of her head she gasped and pointed past the monster, which still happened to be turned, staring at its handiwork almost as if it were proud of what it had managed. Noodle's finger traced a line to one of the windows that was shattered but still somewhat transparent. A messy haired black head was still moving within the bus.

Sam's lips tightened in to a determined expression. He slipped his backpack off with one arm while giving Noodle's arm a gentle squeeze, causing her to look to him.

"You and big guy go after him. Sneak around, try not to get seen. Move on my mark," he instructed her, causing her eyebrows to arch high.

"_N-nani?_ What a-are you going to do?"

A slow, arrogant smirk crossed Sam's features.

"You'll see," he informed her cryptically, shoving her in Russel's direction.

All four gathered around as he dug in to the bag, pulling out a myriad of items and lying them out before him. Soon he began to fashion them together in to something using a roll of duct tape that he'd also taken from the bag. When he finally stood, the large creature was still concentrated on the bus, more than likely waiting for Murdoc to find a way out. The objects in question appeared to be three long red road flares taped together to a short metal pole, probably something he'd located while looking for something to smash the bus window. He'd tied a string over their release pieces, clearly attempting to light them as quick as he possibly could.

"Ready?" he said to Noodle and Russel. They nodded, clearly nervous but willing to do anything to rescue their band mate from certain destruction. Sam grinned and faced the distracted creature, "Right. On my mark. One, two, THREE!"

Noodle shot off like a rocket, going past Sam and quickly followed by Russel as the two of them went down the sidewalk then making sharp corner towards the bus. As they ran Sam began banging the end of the pole on the ground, causing a loud, metallic clang to ring through the air.

"HEY! UGLY!" he bellowed. Slowly the giant multi-limbed snake twisted it deformed head in the young man's direction. Sam's smirk grew even wider as 2D and Kara could only observe from a distance, frightened and shaken, "Yeah, you!" Sam taunted, reaching up to yank the string from the tops of the three flares. Each ignited with a snap and a 'kwoosh!' noise, red sparks pouring from the three heads like a bizarre fountain.

"Sam!" Kara screamed, her knees wobbling as her body threatened to collapse on her, though she wanted nothing more than to run to him and stop him from being so fool hearty. 2D grunted and struggled to keep her on her feet, chewing on his lower lip as his own concerns pushed themselves to the forefront of his thoughts.

Distracted by Sam's deliberate mocking and show of bravado, along with the crudely fashioned weapon, the creature never saw Russel and Noodle make it to the bus and begin looking for any possible way to free Murdoc from the twisted metal confines of it.

Tapping the pole on the ground one last time, Sam straightened up and took a step forward, sliding his feet in to a defensive stance while lifting his free hand, beckoning to the creature with it.

"Come on, you sorry excuse of a nature fuck up. Let's dance."


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"He is crazy," Noodle observed quietly, watching Sam's battle with the strange creature from the deep archway where she and Russel were hiding, biding their time until the monster could no longer have them in their line of sight. The bus was only a few feet away, a high pitched whine coming from crushed engine as it still attempted to run despite the fact that a good portion of the front end was bent inside of it. It was hard to tell if Murdoc was still conscious, as any movement had since ceased shortly after Sam's insane attempt to take on the snake like monstrosity.

"Maybe he is," Russel rumbled, "but he's givin' us the only chance we're gonna get,"

"I know…"

Slamming the end metal pole in to the writhing creature's back, Sam jumped away and waited for it's next move. He did his best to keep himself between the giant and the stone archway where 2D and Kara had crouched down to hide in and also keep it distracted enough that it didn't notice Russel and Noodle sneaking along near the bus. It wasn't easy; the thing was fast for being so massive and it was a task in itself to keep away from the multiple limbs attached to the serpentine body. The one thing that seemed to be working to his advantage was that the creature was apparently as blinded as he was by the thick smoke pouring from the flare-spear he'd created. On the downside, it was becoming increasingly harder to keep his eyes not only on the bus but on Kara and 2D's hiding spot as well.

Sam's vision darted to the bus, spotting two crouched and shadowed figures through the swirling haze of smoke moving along beneath the tilted side of the bus. His momentary distraction was just enough for the creature to take another swing, its long, clawed limb barely missing his face. He let out a cry of surprise and tumbled backwards, using the momentum to flip his legs up and crack the monster directly below its massive crocodile like jaws with both feet, the contact creating a strange, mechanical 'chnk!' noise on impact. Shrieking loudly it recoiled back, glowering with its dangerous looking fangs at Sam like a cat that had been teased one too many times.

Remaining crouched on the ground, the pipe still clutched in his fingers, Sam smirked and lifted his other hand to beckon at the strange monster.

"Come on. I dare you," he teased, one eyebrow raised as he issued his challenge.

Meanwhile at the bus, Noodle and Russel had finally managed to make it to the area where they'd last seen Murdoc. Scrambling up Russel's shoulders as fast as she could, the young Asian balanced herself against the tilted bus and looked through the spider webbed window for any signs of life. Squinting with one hand on the broken glass, the other tapping lightly on the metal siding just enough to get some one's attention, she prayed with baited breath only to have it startled out of her when a slightly olive toned hand slammed hard in to the window on the other side. Gasping, she wavered on Russel's shoulders but quickly regained her composure and pressed herself upon the window, the shattered substance giving a disturbing groan under her weight.

"Murdoc san!" Noodle called, her lips as close to the broken pane as she could manage, "We're going to help you! Just hang on!"

The hand slipped away, a soft groan heard from the other side of the broken glass. Noodle hesitated, uncertain on how to proceed now that she knew for certain that Murdoc was fairly badly injured.

_Come on, think…_she chided herself, glancing through the fuzzy view that the glass gave her. Though damaged but not on the level that the front door was, the back swinging doors on the other side of the bus caught her eye. Her lips creased thoughtfully and hopped off Russel's shoulders to the ground, one ear tuned to the growls, thrashes and taunts coming from the street.

"Wus' da plan, Noodle girl?" Russel rumbled, watching the plotting girl curiously. Slowly Noodle walked to the end of the bus and cautiously peered around, her green eyes intently watching the almost dance like movements of the battle being waged in the foggy and now smoke covered street. Flashes of Sam's jacket, the creature's leg, a head, an arm could be seen through the reddened haze caused by the flare spear. Currently Sam had driven the creature nearly down to Burnside, almost two blocks away from the bus.

"I have to risk it…" Noodle said with determined certainty.

"Do what?" Russel asked quietly as he came up behind her and also peered around the corner. Noodle frowned deeply and looked over her shoulder, staring up at the big man with a frown and concern in her partially hidden eyes.

"Wait here, Russel-san," she instructed, causing the man to blink his vacant white eyes in confusion. He opened his mouth to speak but before any words could be uttered, Noodle darted around the corner of the bus and vanished in to the fog and smoke.

"Noodle! Damnit! Noodle get back here!" Russel hissed, barely wanting to bring his voice above a whisper as he leaned around the corner, watching as the dark haired girl's form receded from his vision. She glanced over her shoulder once at the sound of his voice murmuring through the mingling vapors, but only hesitated briefly, knowing that every second passed was another second closer to being seen by the creature.

Lungs burning from the thick swirls of smoke that still trailed through the already heavy air, the young axe princess skidded to a halt in front of the secondary set of double doors, taking a moment to examine their integrity from her location before moving closer. Up the street a loud and very pissed off sounding snarl was heard followed by a yelled taunt from Sam, causing Noodle to look in to the murk and frown deeply. She was running out of time; Sam wouldn't be able to keep that creature's attention forever.

Shoving both hands in to the small opening that had been created by the doors being pushed slightly outward from the creature's destructive rampage, Noodle put all her strength in to prying them open. Her thin arms strained and her face turned red from the effort, but soon the broken doors began to give way, creaking and groaning against her desperate pushing. Eventually they snapped open like a snake suddenly opening its maw for a strike, sending Noodle tumbling to the ground roughly on her rear with a squeak of surprise.

"Noodle love, is 'at you?" Murdoc's hoarse voice filtered through the darkness of the confined and broken bus. It was distant, showing that he was still quite a distance from the now open doors. Noodle stood and flexed her right hand, shaking out the tingling sensation that had shot up and down her bone when she'd landed hard on it.

"Yes. I'm going to get you out, Mur-"

"NOODLE! GET IN THE BUS!" Sam suddenly bellowed from down the street, causing the girl to jerk her head sharply in his direction. The massive creature's attention had been drawn to her and the noise she'd generated in the past few seconds. Its giant head was turned in her direction, the sunken, darkened eyes set in to its elongated skull directly locked on her. Sam was on the ground near by, though from the distance and the smog she couldn't tell if he was injured or had just fallen.

"_…mattsu,"_ Noodle hissed, diving through the open door , tumbling over the odd angle of the floor across the center isle where she caught herself before she rolled completely to the other side. Grunting, she squirmed in to the seat she'd stopped herself with while desperately trying to ignore the stinging pain that was working through both her bandaged hand and her still tingling arm.

"Noods?" Murdoc croaked, popping his head up from a seat about three down from where she was. Even with his odd skin tone he looked frighteningly pale and ashen in the strange reflective light from outside and a sheen of sweat had broken out on his brow. Noodle breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes wandering to the broken windows and the open door at her right.

"I do not know how much longer Sam can hold that thing off..."

Sam was beginning to wonder the same thing.

His lungs were burning something awful, his breath coming in ragged huffs as each minute that passed in the battle with the monstrosity that had attacked them was becoming another minute his body slowly wore down in to exhaustion.

"What I wouldn't give for a shot gun right about now," he groaned as he rolled back to his feet for the umpteenth time after getting knocked down yet again. It seemed that for every swing and swipe he managed to dodge, another one put him off his feet. If anything the behemoth wasn't even fighting back anymore. Instead it seemed to be merely annoyed that such a human would continue to tease and torment it, keeping it from the prey that it _wanted_ rather than what was right there in front of it.

It wasn't until he, and the creature, spotted the hazy figure of tiny Noodle through the fog that Sam realized things might be getting a bit out of hand. Getting knocked to the ground a bit rougher than the other times was as much of a signal to him that the thing was done playing as if it had simply come out and said it.

_Of course if that thing could speak, _Sam's mind reasoned as he stumbled in to a standing position, _I'm pretty damn certain we wouldn't be having this lovely little row of ours._

"Hey buddy!" Sam catcalled out to the creature as it began moving slowly towards the bus, almost as if it wasn't entirely sure it had seen the petite figure of the young Asian near the bus. It grunted, giving a snort that sounded vaguely like an irritated question, and turned its massive head back to the annoying little human. Sam staggered a bit, but kept his balance via the still smoking and sputtering flare-spear. He pointed a finger at the monster, wavering in his awkward stance, "Yeah, I'm still talkin' to you!"

From the shadowed archway of the nearby building, Kara and 2D watched with horrified expressions, unable to look away but unable to do much more than observe helplessly as Sam continued his persistent attack against the monster.

"'e's gettin' tired, Kara..." 2D muttered softly to the younger girl, looking down at her with a troubled expression. Kara never took her eyes off the scene in the street, her hands over her mouth as she struggled to keep herself from completely freaking out over the situation, "'e can' keep goin' like 'at."

"What can we do...?" Kara squeaked, her voice muffled from the tightly pressed palm on her lips, "He's the only one that can fight. He's the only one who knows how. He's a goddamned lunatic and he's saving us by being so..." she trailed off and slowly moved her huge, watery teal eyes up to her blue haired companion, "If we go out there, we're as good as dead, 2D..."

On the road, Sam and the monster continued their staring contest, the creature giving a deep, continuous growl at the man as it slowly turned back to face him.

"Come on," Sam taunted, straightening up from his slightly hunched over position and beckoning with his free hand once more, "We're not done here."

Giving a toss of it's head and a snort, much like a lion being challenged by another animal of the wild, the giant let out a loud, piercing bellow that echoed up and down the deserted, muck covered street and caused everyone with in hearing range to cover their ears in fear of their eardrums exploding from the terrible noise.

The sound faded a few seconds later and Sam realized all too late that the creature had literally outsmarted him. In his distraction of keeping his ears covered from the tremendous noise, the young man had left himself completely vulnerable to any and all attacks. He didn't even get a millisecond to collect his thoughts before his found thick bone and metal talons pressed to his face. The creature had closed the gap between the two of them in mere moments, and was now hovered before him, clutching his head like a basketball player palming their sports equipment of the trade, the crocodile-like nostrils inches from his own nose and the sunken but clearly venomous eyes glaring at him as if to say 'I'm done playing with you, human'.

Sam's mind barely had time to register the fact that he'd actually uttered the words "oh shit" before he was suddenly hurling through the air, the grayed out sky whizzing above his vision. Somewhere voices were calling out his name, and for that brief moment of flight he actually forgot where he was and how he'd gotten there.

That was, of course, before his back slammed painfully in to the ribbed hard plastic lid of a large faded green dumpster sitting in front of one of the many brick buildings of Old Town Portland. Crying out as his vision was quite literally knocked sideways from the hit, he didn't expect the second wave of pain that came from the edge of said dumpster meeting his stomach upon the drop in to the garbage packed disposal unit. Adding insult to the already vastly gained injuries, just as Sam started to slide down in to the none too pleasant smelling trash heap the already wobbling lid finally lost its ability to remain propped open and slammed down roughly on to the young man's head with a nasty sounding 'clng!' noise. His vision swam black and red, the flare-spear still somewhere near by sputtering out the last of its crimson flame. Voices filtered in an out of his hearing and he could sense hands grabbing at his arms, tugging his body up over the edge of the dumpster.

As his vision slowly returned and his body became more aware of the dull aches and throbs now coursing through his joints, he realized that the people helping him out of the foul scented contraption he'd landed in were none other than a certain blue haired vocalist and the red-haired Portland native.

"Sam! Sam, say something!" Kara repeated, attempting to get his attention long enough to make sure that he wasn't seriously injured.

"I'mma gonna kill it when I get outta 'ere..." Sam slurred as the duo hauled him out of the dumpster and on to the street again.

"Sam," Kara protested, helping to balance him out as he attempted to get his bearings once more. The continuation of her statement was silenced by a shrill feminine scream cutting through the air followed by a cacophony of noises that reverberated off the brick buildings and empty street like an acoustically precision music room gone haywire. All three looked up to see the giant with its enormous snout wedged in to the open back doors of the bus, the set of horns that littered the already grotesque skull tearing in to the metal of the bus. Russel was bellowing from the other side, between the rocking vehicle and the building, calling for Noodle and Murdoc to find another way out.

"Shi'!" 2D cried out, looking at the still slightly unbalanced Sam with a nervous look. Shoving the supportive arms of his comrades off his shoulders, Sam stumbled forward, snagging the slowly fading flare-spear off the ground and propelling himself forward towards the beast despite his obvious equilibrium imbalance.

"SAM! DON'T!"

"I said I wasn't through with you yet, and I meant it!" he cried out, lifting the pipe above his head and slamming the blunt end as hard as he could manage in to the creature's side. Some how, by sheer miracle or force of will, he managed to not only land directly on one of the few patches of ashen flesh that wasn't hidden by scraps of rusted metal but also was able to pierce through said flesh, causing a spurt of nearly onyx blood to pour forth from the wound. The creature let out a terrible shriek and began to writhe in pain, jerking its head out from the bus doors to bellow to the sky as if pleading for assistance from some horrible demonic god. Sam grunted and continued to push the pipe in with all his strength, managing to keep a grasp despite how much the creature squirmed and twisted in an attempt to shake him off.

"Noodle! If you're in there, find a way out, NOW!" he cried out, praying that she and the bassist were still conscious enough to hear and understand him. A few seconds later the sound of safety glass busting was heard over the roaring and shrieking going on. Russel's voice barely made it over the din of fighting, but from what Sam could hear Noodle and Murdoc were making their way through a window on the other side, and not a moment too soon, either.

The creature was finally able to wrench Sam's grasp off of the pole as it jerked wildly and nearly flung itself on the ground just to get away. The pole still protruded from its back, thick globs of inky blood dropping on to the street with a sound similar to hot molasses falling from a jar. It whirled around, snarling as it barred its sharp, yellowed teeth at Sam. It was no longer simply irritated with the little human, it was furious with him, and even Sam knew that was his cue to get the hell out of Dodge before it was too late.

He spun on his heel and took off back down the street, looking to his left just as Russel, Noodle, and Murdoc, being carried on Russel's back due to a nasty leg injury that was still dripping blood, bolted out from behind the bus. The creature let out another tremendous roar and slammed its whip-like tail in to the still tottering bus, causing it to groan one last time in futile protest before it completely toppled over with a loud crash.

"Run!" Sam yelled as the three of them closed in on one another.

"What do yo' think I'm doin'!" Russel snapped back as Murdoc bounced rather uncomfortably on the large man's back. Not that he cared at that moment about how uncomfortable he was; he was far too concerned about being torn to pieces by the raging monster behind them."I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU!" Sam shrieked, snagging the stunned Kara's arm as he ran by her and 2D still standing in the middle of the road. Kara squeaked as she stumbled, struggling to keep up with Sam's manic pace. 2D quickly followed suit and soon the entire troupe was making a b-line for Burnside as the creature got over its initial rage and began perusing at an insane rate. None of them were entirely sure what was going to happen once they made it to the other side as there was still a void of nothingness beyond the few remaining buildings over there, but running at that point seemed to be their only choice.

"Where are we going!" Noodle cried out, looking over her shoulder and instantly quickening her own pace as the creature closed the gap between them like a runaway train car.

"Anywhere!"

"We cannot run forever! The street only goes so far!"

"The theater!" Kara screamed, pointing to the left side of the street where a faded blue building with a broken, half lettered marquee stood. Though black iron gates stood before the entrance, something or someone had broken the lock that once held them together.

"Come on!" Sam ordered, tugging Kara in that very direction, followed quickly by the rest of the group. Their sudden sharp turn threw the monster momentarily off course, narrowly missing taking 2D's right leg off as it veered off in the wrong direction. It quickly regained its bearings and twisted back the right way.

_Be open be open be open..._Sam's mind chanted as they neared the dilapidated building. Kara dared to look over her shoulder, squealing when she realized how close the monster was to them. Noodle bolted ahead of the group, crossed the threshold of the ancient theater and leapt in to the air. If the main door had been locked, it wasn't now due to the wood-splintering kick she delivered to it. The door nearly broke at its hinges but was able to hold up enough to swing outward, revealing a yawning darkness beyond its frame.

She dropped down in to a crouched stance off to the side, waiting for everyone to rush in to the hopefully protective depths of the darkened building. Once everyone was past her, much to the upset of her older male band mates who called for her to enter with them, she remained outside only to grab hold of the left side of the wrought iron gate and slam it to its partner on the other side. Snagging a piece of thick, broken wood, she jabbed it through the handles just as the giant came slamming headfirst in to it, causing the iron to shriek as it was nearly pulled off its holdings from the force of the impact. Noodle stumbled backwards, hands up in a defensive position as it thrashed, bashed, and snarled against the gate, unable to get its horns and claws in to the gaps well enough to completely tear the gate down. Her little heart raced, but she seemed locked in place, unable to make a break for the door even though her mind screamed at her to get some sense and go.

Luckily she didn't have to. Not three seconds later a meaty hand snagged the back collar of her Chinese-style shirt, yanking her like a doll in to the darkness of the theater and slamming the broken door closed.

At first nothing could be heard but the muffled sounds of the angered creature outside. Eventually they faded away, leaving nothing but heavy, panting breath in the darkness. The hand was still on Noodle's shirt, and it seemed that no one dare move or speak, almost as if the mere thought of doing so would bring the whole building crashing down and the monster right on top of them.

"Noodle!" Russel finally barked, causing everyone to jump and emit some noise of surprise, "Are you crazy! You damn near got yo' self killed!"

Rather than respond, Noodle simply let out a heavy sigh and gently removed the man's hand from her clothing. She bent down and slung her backpack off her shoulders, digging around until she located one of the many flashlights they were all carrying. She clicked it on, slicing a yellow cone through the thick blackness that surrounded them. Murdoc was sitting on the floor against what one could assume was a snack bar of some kind, his back propped against a counter with a clear glass front, his gnarled hands pressing down on the deep, bleeding wound on his leg. Everyone else was standing in various places, wide eyed, panting, sweat shined and pale.

"...no more busses, okay Sam-san?" the tiny Asian asked her strange American companion. Sam only nodded slowly, unable to give his usual witty quip or snide comment for once.

"No more busses."

**Normally I don't put author's notes, but I figure I'll make an exception this time because my readers deserve some explanation to my random hiatus and my constant excuses. When it comes right down to it this chaptered hated me and I hated it, up until about half way through when it FINALLY began flowing the way it was supposed to. I'm not sure what happened, but I pray it doesn't happen again. A major part also lay in the fact that I suddenly had an urge, for about two weeks, to be completely artistic in different fashion, and in the end, while I got a lot of art done, Othila suffered badly. But Chapter Nine is up, Chapter Ten is coming, and I really hope I haven't angered too many people in to not reading anymore. Thanks for everyone's awesome amount of support, and keep coming back! There's more insanity and creepy craziness to be had! Thanks everyone!**

**Love always,**

**Jo**


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Soft, randomly placed lights illuminated the otherwise bleak theater lobby. Cones of yellow tapering off somewhere near the oddly colored cream ceiling extended from the thinner, smaller black Maglites that had been gathered from the police station, their tops removed and placed on the bottom as bases. Dust filtered through each stream as the movements of the people now occupying the abandoned space almost constantly disturbed the layers covering not only the floors but also everything else. Just like in the store, everyone had wandered off to random ends of the expansive lobby, though no one had dared to enter any one of the showing rooms that lay behind several heavy black doors.

For the most part a heavy, worried silence pressed over the room, although every few minutes said silence was destroyed by a certain bassist who was putting up quite the fuss at having his wound attended to. Sitting on the concession stand counter while two flashlights-turned-battery powered-candles sat on ether side of him, he would snap and curse at Russel whenever he felt even a second of discomfort from his leg wound, eventually causing the larger man to stand and grab him by the back of the neck, press together on a pressure point roughly, and bark at him angrily.

"Either shut yo' mouth an' quit complainin' or yo' gonna do it yo'self!"

Murdoc narrowed his oddly hued eyes at his younger band mate, but said nothing in response or retort, simply turning his head to the side in an indication that he wouldn't speak anymore. Giving a rather irritated noise at him, Russel returned to applying pressure to the deep, jagged wound that ran down Murdoc's right shin. Blood soaked in to the already stained towel that he'd picked up somewhere in the mini mart.

2D stood off to the side, a cigarette unlit between his lips, hands shoved in his pockets as he watched his two male friends with a rather blank expression. Feeling the young man's glassy black eyes on him, Murdoc turned and gave a rude scowl to him.

"What're you lookin' at, Faceache?"

"…'leas' I didn' complain as much as you, princess," 2D snapped back in a clearly irritated tone, his eyes narrowing before he turned and walked away to where Kara was sitting before Murdoc could even think to sputter out an insult in reply. Kara was currently leaning against a wall near the barricaded door, knees pulled tight to her chest and messenger bag still slung over her shoulder, her completely tangled crimpy red hair covering most of her facial features as she stared at the patterned carpet at her feet. He stood over her for a long moment, remaining as silent as ever. Eventually he dug through one of his pockets, fingers pushing away his useless cell phone and a few other random items he had stashed in there until he located his trusty silver Zippo lighter.

The soft click of the lighter opening seemed to garner Kara's attention as her head shifted position slightly, though it was impossible to tell where she was staring thanks to various shadows, both from her hair and from the inadequate lighting around them. 2D struck the flint and brought the lit flame to the tip of his smoke, sucking in a long, relaxing breath before pocketing the lighter once more and taking up the spot next to the redhead, shifting his long limbs in to a comfortable position. Letting smoke roll out from his lips, he offered her the lit cigarette, to which she gave a small shake of her head and went back to staring at the floor.

"…yer no' okay, are you, luv?" he asked, concern knitting his eyebrows. Kara gave another shake, the hair laying over the vinyl fabric of her jacket giving soft 'wooshwoosh' noises, "..we'll find a way ou', Kara," 2D continued, reaching over to place his free hand on her shoulder, "We will. We can' jus' sit back an' let these…these freaks kill us, yehknow?"

"Still scared," Kara mumbled, her voice slightly muffled and distorted as she seemed to have her mouth pressed up against her arms, "Terrified. I thought…I really thought that was it back there. Either Murdoc would die, or Sam would die…or Noodle…or Russel…even us…I thought for sure that _some one_ wasn't going to survive through that. And…" her voice trailed off, cracking at the end. Whether or not she was in tears at that moment was hard to tell, but 2D winced regardless at the emotion her tone had suddenly taken.

"Bu' we didn'. We survived, an' 'ats jus' one step closer t' bein' ou'a here, yeah?"

"…or one step closer to being dead," Kara rebutted, shifting her head so that her face was clearly turned towards him, though she seemed determined to keep her red locks over her eyes and glasses. 2D sighed with a frown, taking another long toke off his smoke. Holding the burning stick away from her, he reached with one hand to carefully pull up some of those long chunks of hair away from her face. He was greeted by one red, puffy eye and tear streaks staining her pale cheek. Leaning forward, he gave off his trademark goofy grin and attempted making horrible, childish faces until Kara finally caved and let out a slightly choked, thick-with-tears chuckle at him.

"'ere. Yer smilin' now," he told her matter of factly, as if it were the answer to life, the universe, and everything in it. Shaking her head at his antics, she sat up enough to push her hair from her face, showing that she was indeed smiling, even if it was a tiny bit and through a tear streaked face.

"Thanks," she said softly, sniffling quietly, "Weird, that I can find humor in something so silly during this insanity."

"No' really," 2D mused, leaning his head back against the wall as he continued to burn more and more of the tobacco product down.

"You're just a little bit crazy, aren't you?" Kara managed to tease with a weak grin.

"'ey, 's no' to'ally my faul'. Muds makes jus' 'bout ever'one 'round him mental," 2D defended, gesturing with cigarette in hand to the individual still being tended to on the counter. Kara smiled and agreed quietly, slipping back in to silence a few seconds later.

For a long moment the two of them remained introspective and quiet, seeming to enjoy nothing more than each other's company and the knowledge that, while they may very well have been in their own circle of hell, they weren't alone. 2D was the first to break the silence once more after his cigarette was finally finished and extinguished by reaching down to his ankle and pulling up his pant leg, showing that he had tucked a thin switchblade in to his sock. He removed the item and held it out to Kara who could only stare at it blankly in confusion.

"I's no' much, bu' 'leas' you'll 'ave sumfink," he said, gesturing his hand towards her in a sign to take it. Kara turned her confused look to his face, lips parted slightly in surprise as she reached to take the item from his hand. She looked the ebony and metallic handle over in the light, watching as the yellow cones from the flashlight cast odd shadows and reflections on its surface. Her thumb slipped to the button on the side, applying pressure until an equally thin but sharp looking blade popped out of the handle, causing her to give a small jump.

"…I can have this?" she asked uncertainly, turning to him once more. The blue haired singer nodded slowly, head canting to the side.

"I'll find sumfink else t' use for a weapon. I's no' fair t' expec' yeh t' jus' go 'round defenseless. I be' yeh can take care of yerself jus' fine. No need t' rely on us guys, yeah luv?"

Carefully Kara slipped the blade back in to the handle and pressed it down, slipping the object in to her jeans pocket. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around 2D in a tight, thankful hug before jumping up and dashing over to where Sam was standing, staring at some movie posters baring titles and images that he'd never even heard of or seen before. He turned when he felt Kara's light hand on his shoulder, offering her a tired smile as she hugged him tightly.

"Hey. You feeling any better?" he asked as he put a hand on her head then wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders. Kara nodded, turning her head to look at some of the posters he'd been gazing at earlier.

"Yeah. Wha'cha looking at?"

"Posters. Ever heard of these movies?"

Kara's eyes wandered slowly over three of the framed posters closest to them, noticing that the pictures on each seemed to resemble something out of the nineteen fifties, sporting over dramatic, washed out art work depicting scenes of human figures standing before a shadowed city, a snowed in town, and a strange glowing portal respectively. The titles, "The Teleporter", "Silence in the Night", and "Summoning of the Six" were definitely three films that Kara had never even heard of, let alone knew anything about. If Sam didn't know anything about them, as he was quite the old movie fan, it led Kara to believe that they were quite possible fake.

"No," she answered after a while, shaking her head and stepping away from the embrace to get a closer look at the faded pictures. She touched the dusty glass, her fingers leaving streaks through the grime that only seemed to marginally improve the oddness of the posters.

"Yehknow," Sam drawled as he also looked over the posters a second time, "I've been thinking a lot about this place,"

"Yeah?"

"What if we're not in Portland anymore?"

Kara blinked a few times and looked over her shoulder, a few waved sections of crimson hair falling over her eyes as she stared quizzically at her friend.

"...sure looks like Portland to me. The MAX, the police station, the roads...it all looks like the same town I was in yesterday. Only...different. But I suppose being deserted and covered in fog would do that to a town," she responded, straightening up as Sam moved closer, tapping his finger against the glass that held the poster.

"Think about that for a second, Kara," Sam said in an even tone, "Movies we've never heard of, places looking so old and worn down when just yesterday they were normal, monsters in the street...none of it adds up, unless you factor in the theory that this _isn't _Portland, the Portland that you know that is."

"...what are you saying, Sam?"

Turning his gaze completely to the girl, a thoughtful and serious frown set in to his lips, Sam narrowed his eyes and said in a hushed voice, "I can't explain it, and something in me doesn't even really want me to figure it out completely. We're in already in a messed up situation as it is and trying to analyze it, well quite honestly that scares me," Kara's expression changed drastically, turning in to something akin to disturbed surprise at his words, "Something happened when we were on those MAX trains, Kara. Something-"

_Clicka-clicka-clicka-clicka..._

"What's that?"

_CLANG!_

Every head in the lobby turned and stared at the closed theater door near where Kara and Sam were standing. The loud metallic noise of heavy hitting the door had drawn their attention, and now in the verbal silence that rang afterwards, all could hear the soft clicking that sounded like a movie reel running somewhere above. Kara's face drained of color as her eyes locked on the door, instinct telling her that it wasn't a human behind the controls of whatever machine was currently powered up.

"...something's here," she hissed, her heart fluttering against her rib cage.

"'ow are you so sure i's not some 'ne?" Murdoc asked, though his voice betrayed a hint of uncertainty. Sam didn't wait for her to answer the British man's question. Instead he motioned 2D and Noodle over from their respective corners. 2D untwisted his limbs and rose from where he sat, joining Noodle as she came around from the other side of the concession stand to speak with Sam.

"Check outside the door, make sure there's nothing out there that's going to give us trouble," he told 2D first, turning to Noodle secondly, "Gather everything up and help Russel get Murdoc out. Make it quick,"

Both nodded and moved to do their individual tasks, Noodle simply gathering what few items had been taken out during their short time there silently despite the questioning looks of her other two companions. 2D went to the front door, slowly pulling it open until there was a small enough crack that he could peer his onyx eye through.

Sam turned to Kara, ready to say more, but was cut off as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest, looked him square in the eyes, and said "No."

"..no?"

"I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no. I'm not going with them, I'm staying with you," Kara explained, though her voice gave away that she wasn't entirely without fear. Sam stared at her for a long moment, his expression neutral as he attempted to read past her own set facial features. She was afraid and she wasn't about to hide it, but her determination to not let herself continue to be controlled by the fear far outweighed whatever terror was in her heart.

"Whatever happens, stay either behind me or at my side. I know what you're doing, but I'm still going to protect you. I have a promise to keep," he told her, neither his tone nor his face betraying any sort of emotion about the issue.

"I know," Kara said with far more confidence than she truly had. Sam looked up to see 2D returning his gaze from across the lobby. He gave a single nod, indicating that everything was clear outside. Sam took the cue and moved it to Noodle, giving her the same nod as a sign to leave. Russel, still curious as to what was happening but unwilling to argue against the same logic that had already saved their lives several times since the accident, put his arm underneath Murdoc and helped him off the concession stand, forcing the man to put most of his weight on the good leg and use him as a human crutch. The three joined 2D at the door and were ushered out in to the foggy depths of the city once more a few seconds later. 2D hesitated, glancing worldly at Kara and Sam.

"Go," Sam said in a voice that was much quieter and forceful then he'd intended, "We'll be out in a minute. If we come out running, head for Couch Street. I saw a hotel down there somewhere," 2D gave a hesitant, slow nod, turning his dark gaze on to Kara.

"Be careful, luv," he said, ducking out the door and letting it close with a soft click, which in turn left Kara and Sam standing in near darkness and silence, with nothing but their breathing, their rapidly beating hearts, the strange noise coming from the theater next to them, and the glow of a single flashlight to break the heaviness of it all. Sam turned said flashlight off for just a moment, long enough to give them a clear view of a flickering gray light coming from the crack at the bottom of the door. He turned it back and pointed the cone at the door, glancing to Kara with something that nearly resembled nervousness. Wordlessly she placed her hand on his arm and gave a short nod. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sam yanked the door open, a momentary bright, large rectangular light nearly blinding the two of them.

When their eyes adjusted, they were both mildly surprised to see what appeared to be some sort of old, badly done Nineteen-fifties film playing through a dust-swirled haze from the completely lighted projection booth above and coming down on the giant movie screen on the other side of the large expanse of the showing room. A woman on the screen let out a terribly over acted shriek as some monster or another came to devour her in that campy B-rated 'horror' of its era. Both companions could only stare at the screen in some sort of abashed awe that all they'd been scared of was an old movie playing. Already under the impression that strange things happened in whatever place they'd managed to fall in to, they chose not to question why the movie was playing and simply dismiss it as nothing more than a fright tactic by the town.

Sam looked down at Kara with a sheepish smile, ready to tell her that they should leave and join their companions, when a strange noise that clearly wasn't from the movie began to float over the darkened showing room. It was faint, soft but musical in some strange way, and it slowly rose in volume as the two looked to the ceiling for the source of the noise. As it became louder, it became obvious that it was a high soprano singing in a language that wasn't English. A lone violin accompanied the voice.

"Sam..." Kara muttered, her voice trembling as her grip tightened on his sleeve. His gaze remained locked on the ceiling, unable to shake the feeling that the song was coming from somewhere above them, rather than playing through the speakers mounted in to the walls. Unfortunately with his attention so set on this thought, he didn't realize that Kara's own gaze had gone down to the seats in front of them.

As the woman's voice faded out in the song, more instruments joined the original and the song suddenly was driven in to a much harder, staccato driven tune.

"SAM!" Kara shrieked loudly, yanking roughly on his arm to get his attention. He jerked his head down just as the song launched in to a deep, frightening male voice speaking in a completely different and guttural sounding language.

"What!" Sam snapped, jerking his head down to look at Kara, only to see exactly what she was panicking over. Hunched on the backs of the seats, nearly blended in to them due to the lack of light from the movie playing on the screen, were a set of about seven or eight large creatures that seemed to resemble pallid skinned humanoids with gangly, thick muscled arms that draped over the backs of the seats they were perched on much like gorillas sat atop branches in a dense jungle. When the two of them had walked in the monsters had been crouched so low on their seats that they'd seemed to simply be large extensions of said objects. Now their heads were turned, scraggly white hair hanging in to eyeless faces, which seemed to only amplify the frightening effect of them essentially staring at the two humans in the theater.

"Oh shit," Sam hissed, feeling his heart sink in to his stomach. The song continued to play, the male voice continued to speak over the driving music. Slowly Sam stepped backwards, reaching over to grip Kara's arm to ensure that she walked with him, "Maybe if we move quietly..." he said in a hushed tone. Kara nodded and moved her feet back with him, the two of them carefully sliding their bodies backwards towards the door. Kara kept one hand out, the other on his arm, fingers groping blindly for the door, while Sam attempted to keep the flashlight that was pinned between his hand on Kara's hand pointed towards the floor. The figures began moving slowly, swaying from side to side as they straightened up in anticipation of attacking what had disturbed them.

Kara's hand brushed over the rounded cold metal top of a trashbin that had been set about a foot from the door. Unfortunately the heel of her shoe also connected with the bin and before she had a chance to stop it from falling the half-sphere lid dropped to the ground with a loud, echoing clang. Both froze, their eyes trained on the creatures that now seemed taught and tense with irritation.

"Not good," Sam muttered.

"You think?" Kara whined as the two of them continued their frighteningly silent and strange stare down with the eyeless creatures upon the seat backs.

For a long, stretched out moment, everything seemed frozen, even the constantly moving image on the screen. A thick, sudden silence enveloped the viewing room as the song that had been mysteriously playing shut off mid-note. Then, as if an unseen explosion propelled them, the creatures all leapt off the backs of the chairs in unison, all propelled forward by amazing speed and agility and all aimed directly at the two frightened humans. Their inhuman, feminine ape-like shrieks mixed with Kara's shrill scream that cut through the air and rang through the empty building.

Within seconds of the movement Sam released the flashlight and snagged Kara by the shoulders of her ripped jacked, shoving her back through the open door, causing her to roll on the ground to a stop a few feet beyond. As the door swung closed, she caught just enough of a glimpse of Sam going down beneath a shower of pale bodied monsters to know that he was in trouble. She scrambled to her feet, securing the switch blade that 2D had given her in to her hand, and slammed back through the door, thrusting the sharp blade at the first thing that she could possibly come in to contact with.

Goopy, greenish liquid oozed over her hand as the knife dug in to the pale, ashen flesh of the creature closest to her. It let out a shriek and tumbled backwards, landing rather hard on the ground as it had been in the air when Kara had managed to strike, loosening the knife in its fall. She shoved, pushed, kicked and punched at anything that grasped at her, screaming in fury as tight hands gripped her clothes, her hair, and attempted to get at her throat. Through her thrashing she could see Sam on his back doing the same, attempting to keep the surprisingly strong beings away from his neck.

She went to reach for him, but before her arm could even manage to push through the mass of squirming bodies, several were thrown back as one in particular found itself at the mercy of Sam's grip. He'd wrapped his arms around the thick neck of the creature, and, through its flailing and thrashing, was able to twist around and use the thing as a sort of bodily whip, swinging the screeching being in to several of the others. One was even hit so hard that it slammed in to the back of a row of seats and splintered them with a deafening crack.

Distracted and thrown off their guard, the rest scattered enough for Sam to leap to his feet, snag Kara by her jacket once more, and run full tilt out of the theater, followed closely at the heels by at least two of the now chittering and angry beasts.

The two of them burst through the door, Sam turning to slam it shut just as the creatures rammed themselves in to it from the other side, causing him to nearly bounce off as he pushed his shoulder and weight in to it. A gnarled, pastey hand managed to get through the crack, flailing and groping around for anything it could possibly latch on to.

"Sam, move!" Russel bellowed from behind him, getting Sam's attention. He had retrieved a large metal and wood bench from somewhere and was standing behind him with it, ready to use it to block the door and prevent the horrible monsters from escaping. Sam nodded and quickly dove to the side, giving Russel just enough time to use his own girth to bash the door closed with the bench, shoving the edge of the object beneath the metal handle of the theater door in order to wedge it in place.

Kara went to Sam's side, attempting to help him to his feet. Growling angrily, he shoved her hand aside and glared up at her from his knelt position, ignoring the fact that the creatures were now causing quite a loud ruckus on the other side of the door, banging and screeching in irritation at their lost kills.

"Why'd you come back for me?" he snapped at the girl as she recoiled from him.

"I wasn't going to leave you!" she defended, unaware that she was still gripping the gunk covered knife in her hand and that a small trickle of blood had snaked from beneath the sleeve of her jacket on to her fingers.

"You got hurt! I would have been fine, but you came back and got hurt!" Sam yelled back at her, his voice cracking a bit. Kara's eyebrows raised high as she stared at him in confusion, a hand slipping over to where she was beginning to feel a slight sting on her upper arm. She pushed back a new tear in the jacket to show three deep gashes oozing crimson down her arm.

"...its just a scratch. Those things would have killed you, Sam," Kara said, her voice soft as she stared at her arm, more surprised at his behavior than what had actually happened. Sam stood, brushing his jacket off in an attempt to feign indifference to the whole thing.

"We need to keep moving. Come on," he ordered, walking away from Kara and going past the other three as they stared in silent wonder at what exactly had just transpired there.

"You okay, girlie?" Russel asked quietly, gently putting a hand on Kara's uninjured shoulder. Her teal gaze focused on Sam's figure receding in to the fog, the girl simply shook her head, pressed a hand to the wound, and followed her friend, trying hard to ignore the tears burning in the corners of her eyes.

_What's so wrong with me wanting to protect _you


End file.
